Worth Fighting For
by bibliolove
Summary: A tale of the Marauders and all of the people they loved and lost during their time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry and into the First Wizarding War (Work in progress).
1. Chapter 1

**If you don't like my story, write your own. Write something better. Send me a link.**

 **ONE**

Sirius Black was irritated, inebriated and categorically convinced that his best mate had lost his damn mind. "Prongs, what in Merlin's name are you doing?"

The twat in question was practically naked and flying laps around the makeshift quidditch pitch behind his ancestral home. The pulsing music and drunken laughter emanating from within the illuminated house should have been enough to get its wayward git of a host off his brown but James Charlus Potter didn't seem to think he was going anywhere.

Enter Sirius.

"PRONGS!"

No response.

"Mate, you're failing in your duty as mother hen. It's eight o'clock, Remus can't stop giggling and Pete, the pisshead, has already been praying to the porcelain god."

Still…nothing.

Sirius glanced down at the trampled dressrobes Euphemia Potter had somehow coaxed her son into before departing for the evening and chuckled. He'd known Prongs would ditch them as soon as his mother was safely in the Floo but really, the boy would be in for it if Mia saw them crumpled up on the grass like that.

"OI, WANKER!"

James' head whipped around. "WHAT?"

"GET YOUR SCRAWNY ARSE DOWN HERE! Sirius bellowed back.

James turned mid-air and after a long, miserable glance at the obviously occupied house, began his slow decent back to reality with a sigh. As he dismounted his beloved broom, Sirius summoned the murky green muggle cords James somehow believed were fashionable and a Wailing Warlocks tee, sending them straight at his best mate's big boofhead.

James deftly caught the soaring clothes and grinned, distracted. "Missed me, Padfoot?"

Sirius sent a pair of boots at his head by way of reply before directing the crushed dressrobes soaring to the unexplored depths of Prongs' closet, simultaneously thanking Merlin that the Potter's home was steeped in so much ancient magic that simple underage wizardry tended to go unnoticed by those Ministry wankers.

Sirius didn't need to ask what had driven Prongs out of his house and kept him captive on his broom.

Scuttlebutt had it that Evans and McKinnon were on their way, with Meadowes ensuring no casualties en route.

Under ordinary circumstances, this would've been considered a colossal triumph. Lily Evans in Prongs' house. Sirius had been fleetingly gleeful when a smashed Mary MacDonald had scrambled up on the Potter's billiard table to announce their imminent arrival before promptly remembering that neither Lily nor Marlene were currently speaking to James.

After that whole business with Snivellus after O.W.L's last year, Lily had been distraught. It wasn't like the hysterical sobbing his cousins pulled when they didn't get their way. No, Lily's soundless tears were enough to make even Sirius wish he'd played nice with Snivelly.

He couldn't even begin to imagine how James, the fool who'd been utterly besotted with the bird since their third year, must've felt watching Lily so utterly devastated.

To top off that catastrophe, Marlene had quite literally blown up at James. She'd come storming into the boys' dormitory, blasting belongings all over the place and screeching something about how he'd completely cocked it up this time and that she was done with him until he fixed things with Lily.

It's not like James hadn't tried to do just that.

He'd penned letter upon letter to both witches but Sirius strongly suspected that any missives that bore the Potter seal were immediately given the old fire and brimstone treatment. James had even dragged Sirius around for six hours one day trying to find Lily's home in some muggle town called Cokeworth. They'd finally discovered a magically warded house but the blonde who'd answered the door had violently wigged out on them the second they mentioned they were looking for Lily. James spent the week following that particular failure camped out on the McKinnon's front lawn until a couple of Marlene's brothers had taken pity on him. According to Max McKinnon, Lily had apparently sought refuge at the McKinnon's to avoid the relentless apology attempts from both James and Snivelly until Marlene decreed that they needed a better hideout. Garrett McKinnon had helpfully narrowed their search down to somewhere beach adjacent and Moony, in all his infinite wisdom, had told James to leave well enough alone.

This didn't rest well with Prongs. He'd lost the sister Merlin had forgotten to give him and the bird he'd been infatuated with for as long as anyone could remember in one fell swoop.

Sirius hated seeing him so despondent. As far as he was concerned, the Gryffindor birds were all crazy. Not just 'eccentric' crazy either—full blown 'we, the Wizengamot, find…' crazy but even Sirius could see their value. MacDonald was the only one he could truly call friend, largely because of the sweet witch's milewide mischief streak. All her neurotic tendencies aside, Evans was a ridiculously clever, kind and capable witch—with everyone except Prongs, unfortunately. Then there was Fortescue, who was came across as this sweet and unassuming flower child until someone managed to tick her off and all hell broke loose. Meadowes could be a bit odd but she was smart and an unparalleled duellist who'd handed him his arse a time or two. McKinnon…well, even though McKinnon barely had a civil word to spare for Sirius anymore, McKinnon was still the sun: a blindingly powerful force of nature who nurtured sensations of warmth, comfort and consternation in all who came into contact with her.

That day by the Lake had caused damage to more than just Lily's friendship with Snivellus and all four Marauders had spent their summer in the uncomfortably reality that was life without the truly barmy creatures dropping in and out of their lives whenever the mood struck them.

Sirius would do everything in his power to help James appease Evans and McKinnon. Even if, in all likelihood, that meant staying the hell away from the pair of them.

Both birds appeared with a loud crack on the outskirts of the McKinnon's neighbouring property, McKinnon having evidently conned one of her brothers into Apparating them.

They made a pretty picture too, all dolled up and not particularly impressed with each other by the looks of things. McKinnon was attempting to drag Evans by her flaming hair towards the Potter's house whilst Evans tried, of all things, to reason with the combative blonde. Kicking, finger pointing and pleading ensued until an utterly exasperated Meadowes separated the pair.

"You see 'em?" Sirius asked, putting an unlit cigarette to his lips and searching for the muggle lighter that never failed to piss off his parents.

"When do I not?" James muttered, eyes locked on the argumentative redhead who didn't seem to realize McKinnon was actually herding her towards the Potter's home. James' hands automatically leapt to his hair… like Evans was going to come dashing up the driveway to scold him for it or something. "Didn't think they'd actually show."

 _Sure mate, that's why we're both hiding out here in the dark._

"C'mon," he said, picking up James' broom with his eyes trained on a familiar mess of golden curls in the distance. "I reckon we both need to get on Pete's level."

* * *

Bullies.

Mischief-makers.

Ruffians.

Pranksters.

Vagabonds.

Lily had never really figured out quite the right word to fully describe the Marauders. They were friend to many and foe to few, but those few foes were outright enemies. They were resourceful wizards wasting their talent on tomfoolery for it was their collective intelligence that kept them skating that thin line between endearing rapscallions and immature prats. They were swashbucklers born two centuries too late; pirates who couldn't pillage or plunder in the traditional sense so they'd created their own cannons to thunder through the halls of the castle and mischief replaced doubloons as their currency of choice.

The Marauders were a lot of things to a lot of people which explained the sheer number that had rocked up to their infamous end of summer piss up. It was, in fact, the first time Lily had turned up to one. The rare festivities she'd been to at Hogwarts, Lily had either stumbled upon by accident or been tricked into attending. To be fair, there were an awful lot of parties. The Marauders didn't exactly need a legitimate reason to party but they sure did love coming up with them.

Hell, they'd once thrown a party for Pete when he got an Acceptable in Charms, his worst subject.

Their imminent return to Hogwarts seemed as good an excuse as any to get hammered. Or at least, that's what Marlene had argued as she'd herded Lily towards Potter's house.

 _"What happened to 'we're better off without that jammy git'? What happened to 'if I never hear from James Snotter again, it'll be too soon'?" Having been coaxed out of the house under false pretences, Lily had been more than a little naffed off. "What bloody happened to loathing the pillock's existence?!"_

 _"Don't be thick, petal, this isn't about Jay. This is about you."_

 _"And what the bloody hell's that supposed to mean?" Lily demanded, a faintly screeching quality to her voice that made her sound alarmingly like Petunia._

 _"What it means is you've become a piss poor version of yourself and we want our Lily Evans back!" Marlene had bellowed back at her. "You weren't the immature prat prancing around pantsing people and you certainly weren't the bigot spouting bullshit, you were just caught in their crossfire. You can't let either one of those wankers allow you to forget yourself. You haven't seen Mary and Alice in months and don't think they haven't told us your letters have been becoming fewer and farther between and poor Remus, he's been going out of his mind worrying about you but you've ignored his letters all because what? He's friends with Jay? Or is it something else? Because I think you're punishing yourself and damned if we'll stand by and watch you."_

 _Silence descended then, Marlen satisfied that she'd made her point and Lily too shell shocked to respond right away until Doe had asked quietly, "So, we're still mad at him, right?"_

 _"We are," Marlene had confirmed, midnight eyes flashing with mischief as she'd hauled Lily in through the Potter's front door._

Marlene McKinnon had been Lily's introduction to the madness of Gryffindor house that fateful day at King's Cross Station. Having stumbled upon the bewildered young muggleborn and her family, Marley had been a charmingly traumatizing breath of fresh air. She had announced that they would become the best of friends then proceeded to shove each of them through a brick wall, hauled Lily through a crowd bustling with people and contraptions Lily had never dreamed possible before promptly nicking her trunk. Overwhelming though the whole ordeal had been, Marlene's sweet mischief had served as a stark contrast to Sev's surliness and Lily had soon found herself enjoying her crazed companion.

Lily adored Marlene but that did not mean she agreed with half of her wild schemes. Rocking up to a party without invites whilst blatantly cold-shouldering all four of its hosts didn't even rank as particularly peculiar for Marlene or anyone who dared get caught up in her wake.

From what little Marlene had bothered to explain but mostly what Lily had been able to gather on her own, Potter had been complicit in Lily's misery and was therefore no longer worthy of Marley's time, Pete had been sick on her shoes at the O.W.L's after party and Remus had refused to give her his Arithmancy notes before O.W.L's—not that Lily blamed him, Marlene had been too preoccupied inking new designs during their revision sessions to pay much attention.

Black was, as always, a much more complex issue. Lily had noticed that Marlene and Sirius' interactions had become increasingly volatile over the previous year and this kind of animosity went well beyond their childish rivalry over who exactly was James Potter's best friend. There was no explanation nor was their likely to be one at this rate. Merlin, whenever anyone so much as mentioned Black, Marlene's infamous fight or flight response was taken to a higher and more melodramatic echelon. Lily's questions had been met with everything from 'surprise' cliff diving on São Miguel Island spanning to a full-on bar brawl in the Leaky Cauldron just that afternoon.

Lily couldn't exactly bring herself to nag Marlene about it, especially not after everything that Marlene had done for her after the rather dramatic culmination to her friendship with Sev at the end of last term.

Marlene had skilfully helped Lily avoid both Sev and Potter on the train trip home then set fire to any letters or bribes for forgiveness from either of them. Just as she always had, Marlene had shared her family and her mother's cooking without comment or judgement. In the weeks that followed, Marlene had implacably dealt with Lily's fragile emotional state which violently ricocheted between a stone-faced automaton to a raging mess of emotions who'd had to be physically restrained from drunk-Flooing Sev on more than one shameful occasion. The beautiful but barmy blonde had even shanghaied Lily into an adventure in the Azores for the rest of their summer vacation. Marlene had claimed it was a necessary "retreat from the general suckiness on the home front" although in hindsight, Lily could see that they'd really just taken running away from their problems to a whole other level.

Regardless, it was Marlene's unwavering loyalty that had triggered Lily's vow to stay for one hour—as soon as she'd managed to extricate Marlene's fist from her hair, of course.

But Marlene, who was currently dancing with Emmeline Vance and the Prewitt twins atop the billiards table, would not be eager to leave and Lily could hardly leave without her. The last time Marlene had been left to her own drunken devices, she'd ended up skinny dipping in the Black Lake with her quidditch teammates and held her friends personally responsible for her hazy memories of that event for months after the fact.

Like anyone could tell Marlene McKinnon to do anything she didn't want to do.

 _Might have to enlist Doe for this one._

Widely regarded as the shiest of the rowdy Gryffindor crowd, Dorcas Meadowes had a magnificent mind burning beneath her quiet and had only attended this evening to avoid Marlene's pouting. Having already caught up with Mary and Alice, Doe would easily be convinced to cut their evening short as she'd much rather be in a bed back at the McKinnon's place anyway. However, Lily would stand on the outskirts of what she had been told was the Potter's ballroom and let Marlene have her fun first.

Besides, there were no shortage of distractions.

Lily had always known that James Potter came from old money because little else could foster such arrogance and conceit. Perhaps it was unkind, but his relentless pestering and persistent 'pursuit' of Lily over the years had squashed out whatever kindness she might have spared for him. Even at eleven years old, she'd quickly realized that the spoilt boy didn't actually want her, he just wanted to be wanted by her. Lily certainly couldn't understand how he could possibly want for more after seeing his childhood home.

She'd always known that Potter fit in somewhere amongst the McKinnon's myriad of magical neighbours but Marlene had somehow neglected to mention that the most beautiful and ornate of the wizarding homes which could be seen from Marlene's bedroom window actually belonged to the Potter family. Even Potter's inhabitancy could not detract from Lily's reverence of the old house and the botanical wonderland of the grounds. A novice botanist herself, Lily had noted several flourishing plants that she hadn't even known could survive in the United Kingdom as well as several others that she couldn't seem to identify, including some sort of iridescent blue flower running amok through the grass.

To make matters worse, Potter's house was even more enchanting on the inside. The domed ceiling above her was adorned with swirling astrological symbols that she'd read about but never encountered outside a tome and every room was lined with shelves upon shelves housing priceless artefacts and she'd seen at least ten books the rest of the world believed had perished millennia ago. Every room was filled with twirling tufts of iridescent light that glittered and swirled around the witches and wizards currently gyrating in time to The Bee Gees _'Stayin' Alive'_.

Virtually everyone above fifth year at Hogwarts was present, although Slytherin's were thin on the ground, and anyone who caught sight of Lily eyed her speculatively. She couldn't exactly blame. She didn't know what she was doing here either.

Lily just wished they wouldn't stare.

Doe appeared next to her, handing her the butterbeer she hadn't realized she needed. Pushing back her mane of dark and wildly braided hair, Doe sighed at her. "One of the brightest witches of our age and she's hiding behind a potted hellebore. The shame!"

"Who said I was hiding?" Lily returned, with a small smile in thanks as she allowed Doe to coax her into a small—and thankfully shadowed—alcove seat. It was a tactical move, Lily knew, because from this vantage point Doe could see every exit and would formulate another escape plan if someone who made Doe nervous came through the front door.

Sparkling amber eyes narrowed on her. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Lily murmured, wondering why she kept telling people that and wondering if she'd ever been less fine.

"You're not fine, Lily, and you really don't have to keep pretending to be."

Lily gaped. She couldn't help it. Doe was good with complex magical theorems and old magical tomes that made most witches and wizards borderline suicidal but she'd never really been able to grasp the emotions of others all that well. Alternatively proud and confounded, Lily was trying to figure out exactly how to respond to that and seeing that she was busy deliberating, Doe retrieved a book from her back pocket and began to read.

She wished, not for the first time, that she could be as assertive as her friend. Doe could give a damn about the fact they were at a party right now. She wanted to read about Morgana le Fey, she would damn well read about Morgana le Fey. But Lily wasn't as self-assured as Doe or as genuinely unaffected by other people as Alice and Mary, who were hanging from the magically fortified chandelier by her knees, oblivious to their partying peers or the pumping music.

Lily was just an irrational excuse for a witch who had an affinity for academics and losing her temper.

Last year, she wouldn't have even been at this party.

Sev had never approved of the Marauders or her friendship with one Remus Lupin. Though Remus never failed to issue her with an invite, Lily had never seen the point of starting an argument with Sev over something as frivolous as a party but now that she was actually present, Lily realized she could've easily been enjoying herself except then she'd immediately feel guilty for enjoying something Sev would have hated before feeling like a moron for missing the bigoted bastard in the first place.

It was an unforgiving cycle and she hated herself—and Sev—for putting her in this position.

A shoulder nudged her own. Slightly frazzled, Lily glanced up into Doe's inquisitive gaze. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"I shouldn't be here."

"Not like you had much choice with all of Marlene's… unorthodox persuasion," Doe murmured with a reluctant grin.

"It's just…" and Lily proceeded to tell Doe everything that was plaguing her because if she didn't, she felt she may very well explode. "…and I'm in Potter's house but all I can think about is how much Sev would hate that I'm here," she finished lamely.

Doe was quiet for a long time. Finally, she said, "James Potter is a prat."

Not sure exactly where she was going with this, Lily laughingly agreed with Doe's assessment.

"A prat who was acting like a horrible, hormonal little git after O.W.L's last year but despite all of his nonsense, he is a good friend." She held up a hand, sensing that Lily was about to interrupt. "He is one of the few people who can deal with Marlene when she's off her head, he makes Pettigrew stand up for himself and he's always handing his homework in under Lupin's name to spare him the detention when he's stuck in the Hospital Wing. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, Potter is a good friend. Look at Black. He's scorned by his family because an old hat screwed with their tradition but Potter has always defended him, no matter how many times it's landed them both in detention. Meanwhile, Snape was humiliated and he threw you to the wolves. I'm not trying to play devil's advocate or excuse even half of his nonsense, I just think that you have Potter painted as this grandiose villain in your head when in fact, he is a teenage wizard who becomes a bumbling idiot whenever you're around."

Out of her usually reticent friend, that was a lot.

Lily's head was still spinning with this new perspective when Sirius Black's incensed raving pervaded her obsessing.

"—you're not even bloody speaking to James and yet, here you are, drinking his booze and making out with his mates!" he bellowed at Marlene, not ten feet from where Lily and Doe were sitting.

"Screw you, Black!" Marlene roared right on back, her hand hovering dangerously over the wand in the waistband of her suede skirt. "Jay and I will fix things when we're damn well ready to and not because you're being a meddling wanker! And like you're one to talk—"

Lily tuned them out with an eyeroll and stood, ready to intervene, but Doe brushed past her with a delighted: "Oh please, allow me." The willowy witch stalked over to their two bickering housemates and shoved them both in opposite directions: Marlene into the comforting arms of Mary and Alice whilst Sirius was sent in the general direction of the booze.

Lily was about to go over there and help calm Marlene down when her favourite Marauder quite literally landed in her lap.

"I've been worried about you, flower, but you Houdini'd me," Remus Lupin mumbled against her tummy, wiggling around until he was facing her and more comfortably situated across her and the entire alcove. "Why'd you Houdini me, Lily?"

He might be cross and more than a little drunk but she couldn't exactly deny it. Lily had lost a friend and become a piss poor one in the interim. "I'm sorry I truly didn't mean to worry you, Rem."

His grey green eyes were thoughtful. "You needed time to lick your wounds. Believe me, I get it. Just don't disappear one me next time, alright? I can't lose you, Lily."

Pressing a kiss to his forehead, she promised. "I'm not going anywhere, Rem, and I promise I won't disappear on you again."

Marlene's earlier words echoing in her head, Lily glanced over at the ranting blonde, who was wildly waving her arms around before finally allowing Mary then Alice to hug her. She had no idea what she'd do without her friends. She glanced down at the one in her lap. "So, how are you feeling, Rem?"

He grinned goofily up at her. "I'm spectacular, Lily, and how are you this fine evening?"

"Not quite as good as you are evidently," Lily replied, pulling what appeared to be a tiny purple squid with wildly moving tentacles from his auburn hair. "Picked up a friend, I see?"

"Sirius," Remus replied by way of explanation, an exasperated grin on his face as he played with the teeny, tiny tentacles. "He's taken to hiding these everywhere lately."

"Of course, he has," Lily murmured, pretending to fathom the lunacy that was Sirius Black as she pulled from his auburn brown curls a dark green Swedish Short Snout that soundlessly roared at her for displacing it.

"I'll get him back later," Remus murmured, continuing to play with the squirming figurines until his eyes wandered off to where Adam McKinnon had somehow managed to talk Doe out of her book and out onto the dance floor. Internally, Lily simultaneously congratulated Adam's moxie and noted how Remus' unhappy eyes wandered after them.

Grinning, Lily scanned the room for someone else to talk to, as she knew from experience that a drunk Remus was not much for scintillating conversation. There was Black, who had gotten diverted on his way to the bar and seemed to be chatting up both Doris Purkiss and Greta Catchlove at the same time. _Over achiever_. Then there was Alice, who—having successfully calmed down Marlene and sent her on her way—was flirting with a flustered Frank Longbottom which Lily just didn't have the heart to interrupt. She had no idea where Pete was but given his recent bouts of alcoholism, she'd guess he was making time with the lavatory... wherever the hell that was.

Suddenly, a blur in a purple paisley dress launched into her and Mary MacDonald had her in a loving, if slightly uncoordinated—and awkward, considering Remus' position in her lap—hug. "LILYKINS! LUPIN! Come dance!"

The two of them were given very little choice in the matter and at Mary's insistence, Remus helped her to her feet. As Remus clumsily twirled her in the direction of the dance floor, Lily decided that the night might not be a complete disaster after all.

* * *

On the opposite side of the ballroom, James Potter had not only lost track of how many drinks he'd had but he could no longer tell whether Remus and Mary were doing a rather inept rendition of the Hokey Pokey or were just stumbling around in perfect synchronization. Pete had reappeared five minutes ago and seemed to be rather enthusiastically having some sort of seizure. James had briefly caught sight of Lily dancing with him earlier until she'd locked eyes with James and bolted.

He couldn't exactly blame her either. The shit he'd pulled last year…

James still couldn't figure quite out how everything had spun out of control so quickly. He remembered being cooped up in the Great Hall then mucking around with his mates by the Lake before he'd gotten all wrapped up in his head, worried about his parents and the war and Sirius' shitty situation… so James did what he always did when his thoughts took a darker turn, he'd looked at Lily—who was still naffed off at him for something he could no longer remember doing but whose scorn he'd very likely deserved. Then he'd noticed Snivelly staring at her too and felt his inner dickhead take over.

In doing so, he'd been unnecessarily cruel and cost Lily her best friend. James took a long swig of his firewhiskey. He really did owe her an apology and he hoped that eventually, she'd stick around long enough to hear it.

Padfoot came barrelling out of the crowd then and stalked over to James. James figured he'd come over for a chat but then he realized he was in front of the liquor cabinet and Sirius wanted in. James promptly got out of the way as Sirius grabbed a bottle of the Knotgrass Mead and slugged back half the bottle. Considering Sirius had never particularly been a fan of Knotgrass Mead, this indicated that there was a… "Problem?"

"McKinnon."

"I thought you said you were going to stay away from her tonight?"

"I. Tried." Sirius gritted out, glowering out at their partying peers.

"Are you ever going to tell me what went down with the two of you?" James asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

His two best friends had never exactly gotten along—twelve-year-old Marlene had resolutely believed that Sirius was out to 'steal' James from her whilst Sirius had blown up when Marlene pointed out that his family tree was less of a tree than a thoroughly rotted trunk due to the copious amount of inbreeding—but he'd been foolish enough to think they had finally been reaching some sort of truce a while back.

Obviously, he'd been fooling himself.

"She's been leading you on a merry chase all summer and she's not even speaking to you, but she's here!" Sirius hissed, taking another swig. "She's here and she's—"

"Trust me, Padfoot, I'm glad she's here." It meant Marls was mellowing. It meant she was almost ready to hear him out—as soon as he got off his arse and apologized to Lily, of course. Honestly, he was just happy to see her.

"I'm not even going to pretend to understand the two of you," Sirius muttered, sighing deeply. "Go talk to Evans," he mumbled, picking up his mead and stalking over to where Remus and Pete continued to do what they laughingly called dancing. "Get that chip off your shoulder."

A solid suggestion.

James scanned the room, hoping to catch sight of that scarlet hair he loved so much and found her in front of the fireplace, staring into the embers. He approached her slowly, running through any and every possible thing he could say to stop her from storming off. Finally, he settled on. "Hey, Evans."

It was truly remarkable how uncomfortable Lily became, just at the sound of his voice. James hated that but knew mentioning it would only increase the awkwardness of what was already sure to be an uncomfortable—and possibly very loud—conversation.

"Here to kick me out, Potter?"

"You're always welcome in my home, Evans, and like I'd ever judge gate-crashing."

Lily faked a smile, fidgeting in her seat.

"Uh, would you like…some coffee?" _Wait, does she even like coffee?_

Her nose wrinkled. "I don't drink coffee."

 _Of course not. You knew that. Who offers people coffee at a party anyway, you prat._ "Water? Butterbeer? Mead?" _Firewhiskey? Elderflower wine?_ Hell, he'd hire out the entire Leaky Cauldron if it just got her to hear him out.

"No. Thank you," Lily said tightly, her eyes roving the crowd for one of her girls or Remus. Merlin, even Sirius would probably be a welcome interruption in her eyes right at that moment. Lily turned slightly, probably just hoping he'd just take the hint but…

"You-never-let-me-apologize!" he sort of shouted at her, shoving his hands into his pockets before he did something stupid like run his hand through his hair, which only ever seemed to make her cross.

Lily's incredible eyes widened, her expression startled. "Excuse me?"

"You never let me apologize for everything that happened after O.W.L's last term?" he got out in one long rush.

And just like that, she was back to pissed off. "Look, Potter—"

"No, wait. I—just…just let me get this out, okay?" His words came out fast and stilted. James waited for some sign that he could continue and finally, Lily sighed which he was going to take for her permission to continue.

"I was a great bloody pillock that day by the lake," he began, trying desperately to measure his breathing. "We'd been locked up in the Great Hall for hours and things… well, let's just say I had a lot on my mind and needed to let off some steam. Sni—Snape became my target which was dickish and infantile, I know. I-I didn't… I wasn't thinking but I should've realised that things were getting out of hand. If I'd known how things were going to go down, I—"

James let out a frustrated breath, well aware he sounded like a great bloody twat. "Look, he treated you like some sort of possession half the bloody time anyway and then he went and called you a you-know-what so I can't exactly say I'm sorry you gave him his marching orders but I never should've put you or him in a situation where the blighter felt he needed to say that word and… well, nobody deserves to lose a mate that way and I'm really sorry for that, Evans. Truly."

There. He'd said it. Not well, but he had said it.

Lily stared at him, probably wondering whether St. Mungo's Mental Ward was out looking for him yet. "Is this just the alcohol talking or are you serious?" she asked warily.

 _Do not make a Sirius joke._ "I may be drunk off my arse but that doesn't mean I'm not sincere. I hate that I mucked everything up for you."

"Thank you for apologizing," she said slowly, "but you don't need to feel entirely responsible for what happened with me and Sev. Things had been bad between the two of us for a while. I'd been in denial about a lot of what was going on with him and his friends but… I didn't want to lose my best friend, you know? Don't get me wrong, you were a pillock but I might've still been listening to Sev's lies if it weren't for everything that happened."

That was about the last thing he'd ever expected her to say and it left him suitably flabbergasted. "Uh, right… okay. Do you reckon you'll ever, you know…"

"Sort things out?" Lily supplied.

James nodded, not sure entirely what he was hoping that answer would be.

She shook her head. "I don't think so. We're two completely different people now. But, you know, I'll be alright." Her eyes wandered over the chaotic blur that was Marlene and Mary as they whirled around the room, coaxing Remus and Pete to dance with them—Frank and Alice next in their sights. "I'm lucky. I have some pretty incredible friends to pick up the slack."

 _I'm a great mate, maybe…_ James stood a little taller. "Lily, I—"

But before he could even properly articulate that particular thought, Gideon Prewitt appeared. A beater on the Gryffindor team and Alice's cousin, Gid was what Marlene had always affectionately referred to as a 'Gryffinwhore' and a mate of his.

The red headed git bowed extravagantly low before Lily. "Dance with me, Evans?" he didn't exactly ask, whirling her away from James with an "Alright Capt'n" thrown over his shoulder.

Lily could do little more than wave lamely in James' direction before she was in the middle of the dance floor, leaving James to scowl after Gid for stealing her away.


	2. Chapter 2

**TWO**

A vivid scarlet steam engine sat at platform 9¾ of King's Cross Station, increasingly the anticipation that arose at the beginning of every new term of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Lily found it a little difficult to feel all that excited though, considering she was accompanied by one spectacularly hungover Marlene and one incredibly ticked off Doe.

Last night, after saving Marlene from making a very poor choice—more commonly known as the pretty pothead, Xenophilius Lovegood—Doe had gotten headbutted for her trouble. The two of them had then launched into a colossal screaming match, spanning back to the time Marlene had accidentally rearranged all of the bones in Doe's right side during an inexperienced incident back in third year.

Lily had dragged the pair of them back to the McKinnon's place and tried to knock some sense into them but both their temperaments were too turbulent. Neither Marlene or Doe had said a single thing to the other all morning and Lily was done being their buffer.

She had more than enough of her own drama to deal with.

Namely Potter.

In the face of his recent decency, Lily wasn't entirely sure how to handle being in his general vicinity. She was used to dealing with the prat Potter. The bullying, arrogant toerag who was always messing with his stupid hair and hexing people just because he could. She'd never had an issue telling _that_ James Potter exactly where to stick it.

The events of the previous night aside, Lily couldn't even remember a single occasion where Potter had ever made an apology that was not entirely tainted by jest. Lifelong friendship combined with equally fiery dispositions meant that James often found it necessary to apologize to Marlene. Usually, James made some sort of grand public gesture or he waited for her to calm down a little before asking her to choose a fitting punishment for his crimes—which led to an awful lot of streaking on Potter's part.

But he had apologized to Lily. James Potter had laid his pride on the line and admitted what a pillock he'd been.

 _Why the bloody hell did Potter suddenly have to develop a sense of integrity?_ It made her reconsider all of her past dealings with Potter as well as some of the issues between him and Sev.

It was ironic really, that she'd never realized the disdain with which Sev had treated the other people in her life until Doe's revelation about Potter the previous night. They had all made an effort… well, except for Marlene. Of course, by the culmination of their first week at Hogwarts, Sev had already sent James to the Hospital Wing with a bloody nose and Marlene would never forgive him for hurting her friend. But the others _had_ tried and Sev had continued to make excuses. He'd complained that Alice—with her carefully curated collection of the world's ugliest jumpers combined with an equally colourful vernacular and propensity for smuggling magical creatures into their dorm—was just a little too 'out there' for him. He'd objected to nearly everything about Mary although his most prominent argument was always her fear of his friend Nicholas Mulciber—not something Lily could exactly hold against her, as the Deatheater wanna-be who made most of the Hogwarts' female populace uneasy seemed to have cultivated an unhealthy interest in Mary. Funnily enough, the only one that Sev hadn't outwardly objected to was Doe because she was openly academic but essentially introverted, like Sev himself.

In contrast, Potter had never treated her friends with anything other than the utmost respect, despite all of his joshing around.

He loved Marlene like a little sister and depended on Doe as a duelling partner as she was the only student who could still trounce him. James and Alice had been known to talk until the common room was lit by only embers about their joint aspiration to join the Auror Office while enabling each other's deep, abiding love of sweets and James had repeatedly punched out any bastard who'd dared to go after Mary because of her blood status.

Lily was also aware that Severus was not always the Marauder's victim. Her childhood friend was capable of great cruelty, he'd been raised with it. Along with his cronies Avery and Mulciber, Sev had often gone overboard in his retaliations against Potter and his friends, going so far as to land the lot of them in the Hospital Wing on multiple occasions.

While Sev had been known to go on for hours about the Marauders crimes against him, they'd never once said a thing Lily—not even when Sirius had been transferred to St. Mungo's with excessive blood loss. Lily had only discovered what was actually going on when she'd overheard Evan Rosier praising Sev with the creation of the spell that had slashed Sirius' skin to ribbons and it's perfect execution to a group of similarly twisted Slytherin's one day.

Lily couldn't truly recognize him as the Sev she'd grown up with after that.

Until that point, Lily had genuinely believed that the enmity between Sev and her housemates was a series of ever-escalating childish pranks but the Marauder's ridiculousness had never culminated in anything so serious as a St Mungo's transfer.

Lily had barely been speaking to Sev during O.W.L's, disguising her disgust in the mounting pressures of exams. Potter's harassment had just been the final nail in the coffin of Lily and Sev's friendship.

Not that Potter hadn't been a massive jackarse for doing so.

 _Circe, now I'm just talking myself in circles._

Lily had explained everything that'd gone down with Potter to Marlene and Doe the night before, hoping for some sort of clarification but had been astoundingly underwhelmed. Overjoyed by the news, Marlene had almost escaped back to the Potter's place to applaud James for finally owning up to his own idiocy before Doe tackled her and Lily coaxed her back to bed. Doe had been back to her quiet self but had said she was ultimately happy that Lily had managed to gain some sort of closure on everything that had gone down with after O.W.L.'s.

Of course, that didn't necessarily mean Lily had any idea how to use this so-called closure.

Lily huffed as she watched her luggage being loaded onto the train by the obliging fifth years who'd fallen prey to Marlene's flirting and tried to set her mind to rights. Her childhood friend was gone, replaced by a blood purist who seemed to have fooled himself into believing she was the one exception to his prejudice. Her nemesis was being…well, weird. Lily had galaxies of uncertainty growing inside her and with the constant threat of war looming, this was the first time she'd ever been apprehensive about returning to Hogwarts.

Sensing her hesitation, Marlene wrapped an arm around her waist. "What's going on in that busy brain of yours, petal?"

"Potter's apology. It's making me over-think everything."

"You always over-think everything," Doe reminded her, distracted as she monitored the fifth years handling their luggage with an eagle eye.

"Yeah, don't blame it all on Jay," Marlene mumbled into her hair.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be comforting me?"

"Fine," Doe retorted, contemplative for a moment, "knowing James Potter, he may very well still miss the train."

Despite Marlene's protests, Lily grinned. It was entirely possible. James Potter was many things, vexing though many of those may be, and distracted was definitely one of them.

* * *

The mischief maker in question had, as it happened, made it onto the platform. Flanked by his father and his best friend, he was desperately trying to enjoy the easy banter of his companions—"Here to make sure we stay out of trouble until the train pulls away?" Sirius enquired. "I did not know that I wielded such great and terrible power, m'boy," Fleamont Potter returned, with an affectionate clap on Sirius' back—until James caught sight of a mane of dark red hair and momentarily lost the ability to inhale and exhale like a normal human being.

She was over by the train with Marlene and Dorcas. He desperately wanted to go over there, to see where things stood between them in the light of day but first, he had to farewell his father.

"Alright," Monty began, checking his pocket watch. "A couple of quick things from my darling wife—"

But both boys had already heard this particular speech so many times that they could just as easily recite it themselves.

"No playing with or assisting Hagrid with any of his legally suspect hatchlings."

"No more food fights in the Great Hall."

"Or the kitchens."

"Or the common room."

"No skiving classes to go hang at the Hogs Head with Aberforth and his goats."

"No _getting caught_ with illicit substances." Under Fleamont's twinkling but supposedly stern stare, Sirius quickly amended: "Maybe just steering clear of the dragon dung and fiendfyre all together then."

"No sending Peeves off after Filch with a bag of dungbombs…"

"…even if the git deserved it," Sirius added helpfully.

"No arranging discos in Dumbledore's office at four in the morning even if the Headmaster was the one requesting 'See You Later, Alligator'."

"No breaking into the Slytherin common room to—"

"Enough! I need to be able to deny any knowledge of inter-common room explorations to your mother and the school board if need be!" Monty interrupted with a chuckle. "Watch each other's backs. Got it?"

"Got it," they replied in unison.

Monty hugged them both, before straightening the brown tweed suit he'd deemed appropriate for his muggle disguise and clapping them both on the back. "Have a good year and do try not to get expelled."

"No promises, Monty," Sirius mumbled, grinning at his adoptive father.

"You deal with Mia then," Monty countered.

Sirius grinned, utterly cavalier. "Euphemia loves me."

Monty snorted. "She won't keep loving you if you keep calling her Euphemia. Now, go. You have a train to catch." He waded his way through the masses of congregated witches and wizards towards the barrier to the muggle world beyond, before tossing "Oh and boys?" over his shoulder.

"Yes, Dad?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"I expect to see Marlene over the Christmas break." Monty vanished through the barrier, brooking no further argument.

"Maybe you should brave McKinnon on your own," Sirius said, preoccupied. "Give you an actual shot at redemption. I'll go find Moony and Wormtail, we'll join you when you're in the clear."

Brilliant. Sirius got to go hunt down their mates while he got to brave a hungover Marley.

* * *

"OI! MARLENE!"

The holler sounded confident but Potter looked decidedly cautious as he strolled over to where the three of them stood and rightly so. His hazel eyes slid briefly over Lily and Doe before zeroing in on his glowering blonde target.

The prat dropped dramatically to his knees before Marlene with his hands clasped before him in supplication, drawing the attention of countless clamouring students and their perplexed parents. "Marley Reigh McKinnon, I beg forgiveness for being such an abominable prat and not listening to your sage wisdom. I beseech you to consider me one of your nearest and dearest once more!"

Marlene lowered her tortoiseshell sunglasses and glowered down at him. "You couldn't have waited until my hangover wore off, could you?"

Shaking his head in a definite no, Potter rushed forward and gathered a squawking Marlene up in his arms. "I'm not entirely sure my folks will let me come home for Christmas break without you and you know how much I love Mum's plum pudding."

It wasn't much of an apology but Marlene chuckled. "I've missed you too."

Yesterday, Lily might've viewed this exchange as just another of Potter's attention seeking ploys. It was very definitely public, but the relief and tenderness on his features when he buried his face in Marlene's wildly curling hair spoke of a boy who had truly missed his childhood friend. Even Marlene—though she irritably swatted him away and succinctly told him he was "doing her bloody head in"—appeared more quietly content than she had been all summer.

Potter had just returned Marlene to the ground and was turning as if to speak to Lily when the blur of Sirius Black tackled his best friend to the ground. The pair tussled for a moment but just when Potter seemed to be gaining some ground, Black had him in a headlock. The boys' struggle continued until Black deigned to acknowledge that James had not been alone and straightened up. "Ladies," Sirius drawled before directing one of his devastating grins at Lily. "Evans! What are you doing slumming it with Prongs?"

Lily was trying to figure out how exactly to answer that question when a pair of strong but gangly arms wound around her waist. She gasped, about to elbow Remus in the ribs for frightening her when she realized that she was pretty much the only thing keeping him upright.

"I'm guessing you skipped the sobering solution as well?" Lily murmured, rubbing Remus' arm consolingly and silently kicking herself for not making extra.

"I did not skip it!" Marlene snarled. "Doe flushed it."

"You _headbutted_ me!" Doe snapped back.

Lily rolled her eyes at the lot of them, spotting a crowd of Slytherin sixth years close in her periphery. She stiffened, focusing on Remus, taking comfort in his warmth. Noticing her discomfort, Remus' wrapped her more securely in his arms and rested his chin atop her head although he was groaning as he did so.

"How about we get you onboard?" she whispered, turning in time to see Pete duck out from under his mother's affectionate embrace and wave happily, heading over. Lily smiled in return to his "Hullo Evans" as he assisted her with getting the debilitated Remus onto the Hogwarts Express, soon followed by the rest of their Gryffindor brethren.

Alice was already inside one of the compartments, looking tired but devastatingly pretty in purple tights and the green jacquard dress Lily had bought her for Christmas the year before last because it dramatically offset her elven features. Her hair was piled up on top of her head in a chignon which made her look downright ladylike. Then, of course, she opened her mouth. "Whose bloody genius idea were the muggle cocktails?"

"Sirius," Remus growled, collapsing onto the nearest seat with a groan.

The fiend in question appeared in the doorway, chuckling and courting Alice's anger. It came in a volley of quills, textbooks and articles of clothing yanked from her opened trunk.

Lily rolled her eyes and ducked when a copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them_ narrowly missed her ear. "Al, sweetie, you need to calm down!"

"She _needs_ a tranquilizer, preferably a dragon's dosage!" Sirius yelped, catching a pewter cauldron that would've hit him square in the stomach if his reflexes weren't so quick and narrowly missing a platform shoe to the head.

It seemed that the supposedly fearless Marauders were no match for Alice's wrath—as both Black and Pete scampered off to their own compartment, Potter being the only one brave enough to enter.

"And what exactly do you want, James Potter?" Alice demanded, eyeing him suspiciously.

Hands raised in a cautious surrender, Potter nodded at the near catatonic Remus. "Can't leave a Marauder behind, Fortescue."

"Fine! But take this," Alice tossed him a small potion vial that Lily recognized as one of her own sobering solutions. Then, with a dismissive nod, Alice went about picking up her widely scattered possessions, all the while cursing Sirius bloody Black and his Harvey freaking Wallbanger's.

Potter stared at the vial in his hands, utterly perplexed until Doe snatched it off him and helped Remus into an upright position. Her fingers threaded through his hair as she poured the potion between his lips. His grey green eyes opened slowly and focused on Doe with a goofy grin before he gracelessly toppled to the compartment floor. Chuckling to himself, Potter helped a slightly pink Remus to his feet. James' tossed Alice a box of her favourite crazyberry bubble gum in thanks before they too retreated, tossing quick greetings to Mary as they whipped past her.

"I know they tend to be a troublesome lot," Mary said breathlessly, entering the compartment and promptly collapsing onto Remus' vacated seat, "but at least those boys are never boring."

* * *

In an entirely different compartment of the Hogwarts Express, the boys in question had already cultivated a sprawling mess of books, sweets and scrolls of parchment that littered the seats, windows and floor of their partition. It was a showcase of their talent, of four wizards who blatantly oblivious to their own limitations and set on making the impossible possible.

"The potion needs another night to brew so we'll have to leave our official welcome back until tomorrow," Remus began, all business. "So what can we whip up as a diversion?"

"Turn all of the staircases into slides?"

A non-committal hum from Sirius. "We got 136 of them after O.W.L.'s. Don't you think that's close enough? What about the Mermish thing?

"We could try the jinx on the Sorting Hat? Or the professors?"

Remus frowned. "If I recall correctly, that was the spell that sent me running naked through the Potter's fountain and had Sirius skolling salt water for the rest of the week."

"And?"

"Well, I don't know about you, Wormtail, but I'd rather never see Slughorn naked."

Pete shuddered at the very thought. "Fair enough. Besides, we enchanted the Sorting Hat last year."

Sirius grinned. "And beat the record for the earliest ever string of detentions until you squealed."

"We'd probably still be serving detentions if I hadn't told them the reversal spell," Pete insisted, paling as he recalled McGonagall's screeching. "What do you think Prongs?" he asked of their sulking compatriot.

Tugging at his perpetually untidy hair, James sighed. "I think no matter what we do, Evans is going to find some way to blame me for it. Not like we ever target her or anything."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh yes and charming all the books in the library to serenade anyone who opened them the week before O.W.L's really got in her good graces."

James had the decency to feel a little ashamed about that one, although it didn't last long. "That was _your_ spell, Moony!"

"And I apologized to Lily once I found out what you reprobates used it for!" Remus retorted.

"Hey Prongs…" Sirius mumbled, working on his latest plan to circumvent the enchantment on the girls' staircase and not bothering to glance up because of it. "Evans didn't hex you this morning. We're going to call that progress, mate."

James hummed affirmatively but he wasn't truly listening. He was still solemnly stuck on what would've happened had he been given the chance to discuss a proper truce and possible friendship with Lily last night. Would she actually have said yes? Or would it have freaked her out? Would she think he was making fun of her? Lily always seemed to think he was making fun of her.

James wasn't an idiot. He knew he was a disaster when it came to his feelings for Lily Evans.

If it had just stayed a purely physical thing, he probably would've been over it long ago—but Lily had to be a sweet, intelligent and an all-around wonderful person too. She was fiercely loving and wildly loyal to those around her, to the point of viciousness when those she loved were threatened. Unfortunately, James was all too often viewed as a threat. He'd never set out to come across that way but Lily's very existence distracted him to the point that he would often lose all rational thought concerning his mouth, his wand and—on a couple of _very_ embarrassing occasions—the correct coordination of his arms and legs. He would try to sound impressive and interesting but continued to come across as a total tosspot but he wasn't a complete arsehole.

While James knew he could occasionally come across as thoughtless and a bit up himself, he was essentially an alright human being. He took care of those he loved and he loved easily. He was also aware of and truly grateful for every advantage he had in life whether it be his loving parents, his academic prowess or the most mischievous comrades anyone could ask for. James had never truly wanted for much of anything. Ironic then that he found the one woman he wanted above all others and damned if he could get a civil word out of her half the time.

If there was a Lily Evans manual, it would be six volumes long and written backwards in Aramaic with random pages torn out.

A paper plane whizzed around his head a couple of times before losing patience and crashing into his glasses. "EARTH TO PRONGS!" Pete hollered.

"Huh?" was his brilliant response as the crumpled paper plane zoomed off again. "Oh, sorry. What's up?"

"You are, I'm sure. Is Lily a gentle fantasy lover? Or is that for me? In which case, I'm flattered," Sirius sniggered.

"Piss off!" James returned, surreptitiously checking his lap for signs of life before flinging a chocolate frog at Sirius for making him look. The moron caught it in his mouth and started chewing, box and all. "That's disgusting."

"Your mooning over her? Why yes, yes, it is," Sirius returned, pulling the cardboard from his mouth bit by bit.

"This from the man who once so drunk that he wandered into the girls' bathroom and begged Moaning Myrtle to braid flowers in his hair."

"I was also concussed, screw you very much."

Tearing open a pumpkin pasty, Pete took it upon himself to break up their bickering. "Well, at least the future Mrs Potter is speaking to you now."

Remus rolled his eyes at the lot of them. "Although a conversation with no screaming is hardly grounds for matrimony, Pete."

"It's just taking a little longer than initially planned, Moony, my dear man."

"Maybe you need a new plan," Remus returned.

"Maybe you need to shut up."

"Maybe I should date Evans, see what all the fuss is about," Sirius joked, tossing a sugar quill at a pouting James, who lobbed it back at him. The bastard winked. He was just teasing and intellectually, James knew that.

Next, Pete had a bright idea. "Maybe James should just try to be _friends_ with Lily."

Like he hadn't thought of that. "Maybe James is supposed be with Lily and you're all tossers," James muttered, crossing his arms and frowning at his supposed friends.

"Maybe James shouldn't talk about himself in the third person."

"Peter agrees with Remus."

"Sirius reckons you're all wankers." Sirius murmured, not looking the least bit ruffled at their blank expressions. "Oh, I'm sorry I thought we were all just stating the astoundingly obvious in third person."

"You're all pricks!" James declared but he was grinning as he said it.

* * *

After a thoroughly uneventful train ride, Mary MacDonald was utterly famished and finally feeling the effects of Lily's sobering solution fading. She'd spent the majority of the journey to Hogwarts moderating Lily and Doe's unhealthy obsession with their sixth-year syllabus whilst Marley pilfered her last remaining vial of sobering solution and Alice napped with her head in Lily's lap.

Mary clambered out of the carriage that had delivered them to Hogwarts in time to see four very familiar figures disappearing through the front doors of the castle. _What in Merlin's name are that lot up to?_ she wondered as Lily appeared beside her, frowning. Marlene and Alice toppled out after them, catcalling their new Head Boy who was none other than Mr. Frank Longbottom. In contrast to the rest of them, Doe's disembarking was much more dignified but even she arched an eyebrow at the Marauder's obvious eagerness. "Anyone else suddenly feel the urge to duck and cover?"

"Circe, if even Doe is indulging their juvenile antics, the whole world really is going to hell," Lily muttered as Mary wandered ahead of her into the Entrance Hall.

Lily was much wearier as she crept through the castle's doors… as if she was expecting it to start raining cats and dogs at any minute. Or anvils.

Like the Marauders would ever blatantly recycle their greatest hits like that.

Mary linked arms with her disconcerted, redheaded friend and hauled her along. "Stop stressing, petal. Gosh, you barely said anything that wasn't directly related to N.E.W.T.'s the whole ride here. What's troubling you?"

The redhead dropped her head against Mary's shoulder. "I think that I'm done being a misery guts now."

As far as everyone else was concerned, Lily had walked away from a toxic friendship unscathed. Mary was one of the few who knew otherwise. "Who said you were a misery guts?" Mary would jinx the insensitive blabbermouth.

"Me! You've all been so patient with me but I've had the whole summer to pull my shit together." Lily forced herself to smile but it just looked sort of painful. "The wizarding world may be crumbling around us but damned if we won't enjoy this year."

"Hell yeah, we will." Mary intended to make sure of it. They headed for the Gryffindor table, waving back at a string of friends and acquaintances as they passed the Hufflepuff's. "But what are you going to do about Severus?"

Lily took a deep breath. "I'm done. Sev's just too far gone. I mean, he's awful to you, one of the sweetest people I've ever met, just because you're muggleborn… why should I be any different?"

 _Because the greaseball is in love with you?_ "Well, you are pretty specular, Lil." _If very oblivious._

As they took their seats, Lily seemed to shove aside all thoughts of Severus Snape before turning to ask Evelyn and Edward Bell about their summer trip to Peru. Satisfied that Lily was alright for now, Mary looked longingly at the empty platters and trays in front of them—internally hollering to Hecate for some banoffee pie—before the Marauders conversation intruded on her wishful thinking.

"…was not my fault and I resent the implication. Merlin, _I_ am the most responsible person I know!" Sirius somehow managed to deadpan.

"Sure, anything goes wrong, you're generally the one responsible," Remus returned with a smirk.

"Now Moony, you know Padfoot is rarely _solely_ responsible," James murmured, rumpling his hair lest it get too tidy and winking at Mary when he realized she was spectating.

Winking back, Mary sincerely wished she had some popcorn.

Sirius was still glowering at Remus. "At least I'm willing to live up to my abilities. Half the time we're taking the wrap for your machinations, ya ponce!"

"Perhaps Moony is just better at not getting caught," Pete added thoughtfully. "He is a prefect after all."

"Widdle Wemus, da pewfect pwefect," Sirius cooed, fluttering his eyelashes at Remus in a horrendous Tweety Bird impression.

"And when exactly was the last time the rest of you did anything to contribute?" Lily abruptly interjected, her voice soft but strong enough to be heard over the clamour of those gathered in the Great Hall.

A startled sort of silence ensued until Sirius attempted to answer Lily's utterly loaded question. "Let's see… Prongs is an upstanding quidditch captain who gives us all unending joy when he leads our team to win the Quidditch Cup each and every year. Wormy has been known to generously put baby Gryffindor's into sugar comas and I've… uh… made several hygienically-challenged Slytherin gits wash themselves. Well, I doused them with glitter and a silent Sticking Charm which necessitated the obsessive washing. But still—that counts for something, right?"

Mary thought Lily may very well combust on the tail of that complete and utter bollocks.

"No!" Lily hissed, flushing in annoyance.

Sirius' silver eyes flashed and he seemed to be gearing himself up to defend his rather pathetic argument when Alice's hand slammed over his big gob. "Lily, petal, allow me to rephrase." Alice cleared her throat, trying and failing to keep a solemn expression. "James is an undoubtedly skilled quidditch captain but he is also a surprisingly good student and a devout defender of the first-year pipsqueaks even when they're excessively loud and really quite annoying. Pete usually puts the younger kids into sugar comas after he's helped them with their Herbology homework. Finally, whilst he can occasionally be more irritating than all of the first years combined and definitely more brooding, Sirius is essentially the human form of any illegal euphoriant because he can cheer up anyone if he so chooses. Although I agree that none of them are quite so virtuous as our darling Remy, they do have their uses, petal."

This particular defence led James and Sirius to lean across the table and each kiss one of Alice's cheeks whilst Pete frantically accio-ed some crazyberry bubblegum for their champion.

"Plus, they're just so pretty to look at," Alice added with a grin, pinching Pete's cheek and was reaching for Sirius' silky locks—only to snatch her hand back when his teeth nipped her.

Mary laughed as Alice flicked him on the nose like a misbehaving dog before glancing over at Lily, who appeared to be deliberating between ranting herself red in the face and laughing her arse off. When Dumbledore rose from his seat, signalling the start of his address, the redhead was saved from making any such decision.

Dumbledore's speech was even more peculiar than usual and once he got started on a sweets analogy that likened the magical blood war to some hostile takeover involving a muggle company who apparently made amazing lemon drops, Mary dropped her head onto Lily's shoulder with a sigh.

She was never going to get her banoffee pie.


	3. Chapter 3

**THREE**

After Dumbledore's solemn but admittedly strange interpretation of current events, the Sorting Hat's new song foretold a conflict that would rival that of the Hogwarts founders and then the Feast finally began. Though the full moon was a mere week away, Remus Lupin couldn't seem to stop smiling. He was back at Hogwarts, no longer to be a burden on his poor parents, and he was surrounded by the best mates anyone could ask for. Unfortunately, the three of them were sulking something shocking at that exact moment.

Following a disagreement concerning their bogus start of term prank, they'd resolved to divide and conquer. Sirius and Pete had settled on asinine toilet humour—because apparently, enchanting every toilet in Hogwarts to shout profanities at anyone who tried to sit upon it was the height of hilarity. Meanwhile, Remus and James had been fixated on fastening bespelled smokebombs to the underside of each staff members chair which would spell out 'Welcome Back' when the staff stood for the school song.

Regrettably, Professor McGonagall had been onto the lot of them and after rounding them up, she'd sentenced Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs to a weeks' worth of detentions. Remus alone had survived unscathed and only because James had haphazardly covered him with the invisibility cloak.

Something about keeping a perfect prefect reputation or some such nonsense.

Remus suspected it actually had much more to do with the lunar cycle but regardless, Prongs had done him a solid. Prongs was always doing him a solid. Of course, that didn't mean Remus didn't thoroughly enjoy watching James in his current predicament.

All he'd been asked was: "Potter, can you please pass me the potatoes?"

James had done so on autopilot before realizing that it was Lily who he was handing the scalloped potatoes to. His eyes had bulged comically and James nearly poured the potatoes down her front before Marlene deftly caught the dish, rolling her eyes at her childhood friend as he continued to gape.

"Did hell just freeze over or did Lily Evans just acknowledge your existence without screaming?" Pete hissed, his eyes twice as wide as Prongs'.

James was too busy grinning like a fool to respond.

Remus chuckled, glancing across at Sirius, who definitely did not share in his amusement. Sirius' gaze lacked its ubiquitous mischief, flickering with concern then irritation before graduating to outright glaring at Lily as though she was the root of all evil. A fearsome expression if you took his family into account.

Frowning, Remus kicked him in the shins. Padfoot got like this every now and then. When thinking rationally, Sirius could recognize that Lily was actually a wonderful person but the feral dog within reared its ugly head whenever he saw the potential for James' to get hurt; and they both knew that Prongs—with his overactive imagination and weakness where Lily was concerned—could definitely misconstrue such an inane request as peace talks then be devastated in the aftermath.

Sirius inclined his head slightly, acknowledging Remus' point with a sneaky but obscene gesture before returning to his shepherd's pie. That lasted for all of about ten seconds before Sirius had another great idea. He tossed a bread roll at Alice. "So, Fortescue, you finally going to put me out of my misery this year?"

"Dream on, Black. I've got my eyes on a much larger prize." Alice returned, with a sweet smile down the table towards Frank Longbottom, who choked spectacularly on his pumpkin juice when he realized Alice had caught him staring at her.

Remus grinned. Frank was exactly the type of bloke Alice deserved, someone good and grounded. They'd make a great match if Frank would just wise up to the fact she was genuinely interested.

Sirius was not to be perturbed. "What about you, Dorky? I think I could make you very happy."

The witch in question, who definitely had a book hidden under the table, barely spared Sirius a glance. "Why? Are you leaving?"

Four words in that husky voice and Remus' every hair stood up on end.

Before O.W.L's, Remus could honestly say he'd never spared Dorcas Meadowes a second thought. She was a bright Gryffindor with a famous Auror father and next to no social skills who had never really spoken to him about anything other than classes or meals. An acquaintance really but… Remus hadn't been able to stop thinking about Doe all bloody summer.

He blamed James and Sirius for this _entirely._

In the weeks leading up to O.W.L's, the pair of plonkers had channelled their nerves into a string of practical jokes that had eventually led to the mysterious formation of a gigantic papier-mâché phoenix, created with all of the scrolls from the semester as well as Doe's immaculate notes, although they'd sworn upside down that they'd had no idea how her notes had been mixed up in there.

Doe hadn't cried or screamed or reacted in anyway like anyone who'd just lost the study notes she'd compiled over the previous five years. She'd calmly challenged them to a duel which both boys had tried to talk her out of before Doe concurrently kicked both their arses. An extraordinary feat, considering Sirius and James were both skilled duellists in their own right, let alone when they worked together.

Suddenly, the enigmatic girl who'd sat across the Gryffindor table from him for years occupied half of his thoughts and he couldn't understand how he'd never noticed those inquisitive whiskey coloured eyes or that cascade of silky black hair before.

Doe barely seemed to register his existence which was probably for the best. She was strong, smart and much too good for him...still, a man could dream.

 _Shit._ He was starting to sound like Prongs.

Somehow sensing his inner turmoil, Sirius turned his attention to loudly interrogating Pete about his intentions toward some fifth year Hufflepuff bird named Patrice who he reckoned Pete had a thing for. As the interfering mongrel had most likely foreseen, James and Marlene had a million and one questions about this girl for Pete and Remus thought he was in the clear when Sirius aimed a swift kick at him under the table.

"You good?" Sirius mouthed, checking in on him.

Remus bowed his head. How could he not be? Aside from his pathetic preoccupation with Doe, everything else was starting to look up—inside Hogwarts, at least.

Sirius nodded before his eyes locked on the unopened chocolate frog Pete was toying with and he abruptly forgot about the universally pathetic love lives of all four Marauders whilst Remus desperately resisted the urge to remind him that dogs should not eat chocolate.

* * *

The constant state of quandary that had haunted Lily all summer was coming to a definitive close. She had spent nearly the entire feast thinking over her earlier conversation with Mary and decided that enough was truly enough.

Lily was so sick of second guessing herself as well as every little inconsequential thing that happened. Her self-esteem may be in tatters but it hadn't always been that way. Lily used to know her own worth and would settle for nothing less… hence half of her issues with Potter. She had never been some meek little girl who let the opinions of stupid people play on her insecurities; and yet she had spent _months_ comparing herself to her best friends and found herself consistently lacking.

Lily had to face the fact that she'd been squandering all summer, hoping someone would save her from her own irresolution even though she was perfectly capable of rescuing herself.

"What do you think, petal?" Marlene asked, drawing Lily out of her reverie.

"What do I think about what, sorry?" she responded, belatedly noticing that the table had been cleared while she was stuck inside her own mind.

"Our tradition? Blanket forts, junk food and talking into the twilight hours? Alice is for. Doe is against but seeing as she generally participates in our 'inane jibber jabber' anyway, I'm choosing not to take her negativity to heart. Mary agreed, I think, but she's now too busy drooling over a certain Hufflepuff to make much sense. What about you?" Marlene asked, hauling Lily to her feet and waving a hand in front of Mary's unfocused eyes.

"Of course, I'm in but where'd Alice get to?"

"She snuck off to the kitchens for snacks."

Doe groaned. "I don't think we could possibly eat anything else."

"All these years, Meadowes, and you still gravely underestimate my ability to consume food," Mary murmured, having returned her attention from her ogling to her friends and playfully waggling her finger at Doe as they wandered into the Entrance Hall.

They had just reached the stairs when Doe broke off to regulate Alice's snack haul and an achingly familiar voice called Lily's name from somewhere off to their left. Cursing her crappy timing, Lily steeled herself for whatever was going to come next as she turned to face the shadow of her best friend as he rushed over.

After months of seeing his face in every crowd, she could barely recognize the real Sev standing in front of her. His pale face looked almost gaunt and his hair had grown to an unruly length again because Lily hadn't been around to cut it for him. He stopped in front of her and hesitated, uncertainty plain on his face. "Did you—um...get any of my letters?"

Lily just stared at him. She didn't even have the words for the feelings that overwhelmed her at seeing him again. They'd shared everything once, she and Sev, moved in twin orbits like binary stars but the mere metre separating them now felt like galaxies.

Marlene's fingers found her own whilst Mary rubbed her back gently. Their support was everything at that moment. "What is it exactly that you want from me, Severus?"

"A shag, most likely. Cavorting with the filth again eh, Severus?" came the cold voice of Nicholas Mulciber as he and his hyenas surrounded Sev, who abruptly took a step away from the Gryffindor girls.

Marlene blustered at that comment but Mary was quick with the silencing charm and thankfully kept Marlene's mouth out of the mounting unpleasantries.

"I said I'd be just a moment," Sev mumbled with a cutting look at his friends.

"Yet somehow, we knew you'd be here. Being a love-struck fool is fine when it is a suitable witch but that"—Christopher Avery leered at Lily—"is nothing more than a quick and shameful lay."

Mary growled at that and Marlene's hand whipped to her wand but Lily stayed her hand. Marlene's nonverbal spellwork required some definite improvement and these fools weren't worth the trip to the Hospital Wing.

"Sort out your priorities, Severus," Evan Rosier said, with a derisive snort. Washing his hands of the situation, Rosier shoved past the Gryffindors and knocked into Mary, hissing "Watch it, mudblood," as he and the future felons he called friends slunk off towards the dungeons.

Lily forced herself to remain expressionless because Sev said nothing. She'd been wrong last night when she told Potter that his bullying had been the final nail in the coffin of this friendship because this was. Lily finally got it: Sev never said anything.

She'd spent her whole vacation mourning _this_? A coward who meekly followed the edicts of his blood purist friends, even though he himself was a halfblood. While Potter's actions that day by the Lake had been inexcusable and utterly humiliated Sev, Lily was beginning to realize that unlike with some of the students who'd been caught up in their respective wakes, what lay between Potter and Sev was much more complicated than victim and bully. In her mind, bullying implied an imbalance of power and fear but neither one of them was scared or intimidated by the other because the two of them were too evenly matched in both talent and their hatred of one another.

Lily could've easily overlooked their rivalry, had they not dragged so many innocents into it.

Although she expected no less from Potter, Lily hated to watch Sev slowly transform into a vindictive bully like those he called friend. At his core, Sev was still just that same scared little boy she'd met all those years ago. It no longer mattered that she'd been that boy's safe place in the tempestuous winds of his father's rage nor that he had been the one to love and support her when Petunia had her feeling like the most loathsome creature on the planet because Lily was done holding out hope for the person she _knew_ he could be.

Lily noticed Sev mouthing something at her as he passed, probably some other meaningless apology but Lily had already turned away. She didn't want to look at him. She didn't want any more letters or pretty speeches or bribes for forgiveness. She didn't want to feel the pity of her friends and family.

Lily didn't want to feel _anything_.

She didn't have much choice in the matter though, as a group hug more or less crashed into her.

Marlene kissed her forehead and rubbed her back soothingly. "We've got you, petal."

"We'll get you out of here," Mary murmured, pushing through the students who'd been loitering around to eavesdrop and hustling them both up the myriad of moving stairs towards Gryffindor Tower while Marlene spouted some comforting noise in Lily's ears. As the Fat Lady was mid-lecture when they reached her, Mary hastily shouted " _Gobbledegook_ " over and over again until she gained their admission into the warmth and safety of the Gryffindor common room.

Lily had almost pulled herself together by the time Marlene propelled her into her favourite armchair in front of the fireplace but she couldn't seem to get a word in edgewise around all of their fussing.

She was eager to start ladies' night locked in the dormitory with four of her favourite people when the other two unceremoniously toppled through the portrait hole, arms loaded with food. Alice promptly dumped her sugary loot and dashed over, almost crushing Lily with her affection whilst Doe dropped down to the floor at her feet, fruit slipping and sliding out of her arms. "I could send him to Antarctica without his wand if you like," she said sincerely.

"How could you possibly—?"

"As ever, you fail to understand the Hogwarts gossip chain, petal," Alice remarked as she unwrapped a pumpkin pasty and thrust it into Lily's hands. "We knew about your horrific run in within minutes."

"It wasn't horrific, it was cathartic and I'm honestly fine," Lily insisted, stealthily passing the pasty off to a third year who was eyeing it hopefully.

"Sure, you are, darling. Eat this!" Mary replied, shoving a cauldron cake at her and verifying that Lily's stealth skills sucked.

Four heads suddenly appeared around the corner to the boys' staircase, grinning at them. Of course, someone soon slipped and all four idiots went plummeting into a mess of limbs and profanities on the floor. Naturally, Potter was the first to recover his composure and bow at the round of applause provided by Marlene, Mary and Alice.

Lily suddenly felt very tired as she'd had her fair share of moronic male tenacity for the evening. "What do you want, Potter?"

"You, Evans." His voice sounded strange and wrong but the sentiment was nothing new. "And I know deep, deep down you want me too."

Lily scowled at him, her cheeks igniting in time with her old embarrassment. Aside from nemeses, the two of them were just so blatantly not suited for each other but _still_ he taunted her. She'd honestly believed that they were making some sort of progress at the party last night and now… Potter couldn't possibly be in earnest. This had to be some way of screwing with her because James Potter loved screwing with her. Regardless of his quidditch house service and supposed deference to first years, Potter was still a tormenting git. Keeping her expression impassive, Lily couldn't quite help but glower at him. "You're right, Potter. I want you… to bloody piss off."

There were chuckles and grins from their housemates at that. From the floor, Remus viciously kicked James' feet out from under him and Pete tried to separate the wrestling that ensued whilst Sirius looked on, utterly dumbfounded. Something strange was going on with that lot but seeing as they always seemed to be scheming something, Lily was unconcerned.

"Now if you gentlemen," she looked at James, who Remus had in a headlock, "and whatever you are, will excuse us."

She helped Doe gather up all of her overly optimistic fruit and bid goodnight to the squabbling Marauders.

* * *

Having somehow made their way upstairs to their own dormitory, the Marauders were still tussling. 'Remus' was still trying to thrash 'James' and 'Pete' was still trying in vain to separate them.

"—self-centred dickhead—"

"Calm down, ya specky prat—"

"Lily doesn't need any more reasons to hate me!"

"I barely said anything to the barmy bird!"

"Did you see her face?"

"Okay, maybe I was a tad out of li—don't you dare touch my hair, you jammy git!"

There was a symphony of swearing, grunts and crashing objects before 'Pete' and 'Sirius' started lighting and pelting the pair of them with Dr Filibuster's No Heat Fireworks which finally seemed to get their attention.

"Sit. Down." Remus Lupin growled, even as the guise of 'Pete' flickered over his features. His glower remained formidable, even if he was shooting up about a foot in height and his hair was beginning to return to its natural chestnut. "Sirius, we do not misuse our Polyjuice time. James, stop trying to clobber him."

"But he—"

"I never—"

" _Decease_ the bitching or you're both sleeping in the common room."

Sweet silence.

"Alright then," Remus began, with a stern but amused expression on his transitioning facial features. "Our mock Polyjuice works well enough to get past our housemates. It should work well enough on everyone else. Now, I'm going to bed but you two had better kiss and make up. We have a big day tomorrow."

Pete watched, bemused as Sirius puckered up and James pushed him off the bed. The two of them would be fine, they always were and they'd certainly need to be if they were going to pull off everything the four of them had planned for the following day because even Professor McGonagall wasn't going to be able to find a way to thwart this one.

* * *

It was seven o'clock in the bloody morning when Marlene McKinnon got her arse rolled out of bed by an insane redhead and the two of them bickered their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. She was truly grateful to see Lily back to her old self, especially after the run in with Snape but Marlene had not missed the early morning wake up calls so much.

Nor the manic cleaning which had deconstructed their magnificent blanket fort while the sane people slept.

"Swear to Circe, if you don't slow down, I'm going to jinx you."

"Why are you so doom and gloom?" Lily inquired with one of the first real smiles Marlene had seen out of her in months.

Marlene glowered. "You know better than to speak to me this early. I love you and all, but I can't deal with your chirpiness until I'm caffeinated."

Lily dragged her into the Great Hall, giggling all the way. The rare sound was enough to break through Marlene's cranky but she gratefully accepted the creamy coffee Lily prepared for her all the same. One long sip morphed her remaining irritability into raging suspicion.

"You do realize that wasn't Jay last night, right?" Marlene had recognized the difference right away. She just wished she could figure out what the four of them were up to playing around with Polyjuice potion their first night back at Hogwarts.

Lily shrugged, serving herself up some waffles. "He did sound odd but who else could it be?"

Marlene snorted. The only one who could possibly think such a bad line could work. "Black."

The redhead sighed, exasperated as ever. "Of course, it was. That lot are always up to something."

Instinctively, Marlene went on the defensive. But then she considered the Marauders fan club, who hailed them as wizarding prodigies when Marlene knew they were really more like overactive pups who spent half their time plotting world domination and the other half dicking around.

Fortunately, Mary arrived in time to hear the tail end of their conversation. "Even you can't deny that they're entertaining, Lil. Most of their magic is even quite clever."

Even that couldn't throw Lily. The witch had certainly regained her obstinacy. "Some of it, yes. I suppose I just don't understand why there must always be a victim in their pranks. Or why they always seem to blindly target Slytherins."

That wasn't it though. They'd had countless conversations about this very topic over the years and Lily knew it wasn't Slytherins in general that garnered the Marauders wrath but rather those who practiced and tried to indoctrinate others into the Dark Arts. Hell, Emmeline Vance was a Slytherin and one of James' oldest friends. This speech went beyond Lily's disapproval of the Marauders antics and down to the people themselves.

Lily adored Remus. She always took the time to patiently explain difficult concepts to Pete, even when the boys had lost all hope for him understanding it. She treated Sirius with a kind of frustrated indifference. There was only one person who could blind Lily from all of his good. Marlene sighed. "Let's stop pretending this is about all of them for a moment, shall we? You don't know everything about him and whatever you may believe, James Potter is good people."

"He's insufferable and h-he struts!"

Lily had most definitely been thrown for a loop because that was possibly the weakest argument she'd ever come out with. "So do I! Does that make me bad people?"

Lily went all scowly which meant she couldn't think of an appropriate comeback so Marlene decided to finish it. "Say what you want about James Potter but at least he attributes all of his accomplishments to being such a special little bumblebee rather than his blood status."

"Special little bumblebee, Mar? I'm flattered." The boy in question planted a kiss on her forehead as he took the seat beside her. He glanced across at Lily, who was staring intently into her tea, before focusing back on Marlene.

Those hazel depths were devoid of their usual twinkle of hopefulness.

Marlene patted his back consolingly. Damn, it broke her heart to see him so lovesick. Marlene had long ago decided that James Potter and Lily Evans would give her beautiful godbabies when they sorted themselves out. They were oddly well-matched as far as witches and wizards went; attractive, talented and honourable people whose volatile interactions suggested no shortage of passion. Marlene had been waiting impatiently for her allegedly intelligent best friends to catch up since Lily, who had been the first in their year to levitate anything, had sent her feather soaring into James' left nostril after he'd made some obnoxious comment.

Marlene knew for a fact that despite the boogers and his mates' mocking, James had kept that damn feather.

James may have cottoned on years ago but Lily was still in a state of voluntary denial and until she caught up, it was Marlene's responsibility to keep supporting and loving the other brother Monty and Mia Potter had been kind enough to bestow upon her.

She nudged his shoulder playfully, adding some rashes of bacon to his plate. Boy loved his bacon. "Where are the rest of the rascals?"

James grinned at her, gifting her with the tomatoes that had been baked atop his breakfast quiche. "Running amok somewhere. Why do you ask?"

"Because there was no start of term prank yesterday and I'd be disappointed if I weren't so damned suspicious."

He winked and flicked his wand at the tray of bacon. The meat swirled into James' messy scrawl to read: ' _Don't drink the pumpkin juice'._ Marlene frowned, watching Alice and Mary heartily gulp some down. She arched an eyebrow.

"A little trust, Mar. Listen."

A sudden hush settled over them before shrieks and gurgles of laughter emanated from all around the Great Hall.

Marlene turned back to ask James exactly what he was up to… only to discover that he had vanished along with the bacon she'd piled up for him. Alice cursed as her hair started silvering rapidly while Mary was most distressed to discover that she was quickly sprouting facial hair and Marlene finally caught up. Aside from the devout pumpkin juice haters, everyone else seemed to be slowly morphing into Albus Brian Wulfric Percival Dumbledore.

 _Clever little shits._

The Headmaster himself rose to his feet. "Ladies and gentlemen, please do remain calm and in your seats."

An exact replica of Dumbledore, right down to the half-moon spectacles and indigo robes, wandered in from the Entrance Hall. "Yes, I'm sure we'll have this whole mess sorted out soon."

Another Dumbledore appeared, leaning casually against the back of Professor McGonagall's chair until he caught sight of the witch's fearsome expression and moved himself a safe distance away. "But until we do, the many me's would just like to say…"

"Welcome back to Hogwarts!" Fake Dumbledore Number Three roared, jumping atop the Gryffindor table and taking a bow at the instant applause.

"You're all welcome for the majestic beards, by the way," another Dumbledore added, appearing from behind Hagrid, who was shaking with silent laughter. "But they are on loan and will vanish as soon as you vacate the Hall."

The real Dumbledore—or, at least, Marlene _thought_ it was him—clapped his hands together in evident delight and launched into an enthusiastic discussion with the closest copy about the quality of their dressrobes whilst Professor McGonagall watched on, her wrath building. Many of the other Dumbledore's immediately flocked for the Entrance Hall to rid themselves of their bearded forms.

Marlene glanced across the table at her own pair of Dumbledore's. One of them was distractedly braiding her beard whilst the other was vehemently bitching to Doe about the imminent loss of her newfound height but it was the small smile Lily Evans seemed to be fighting that convinced Marlene that hell must have truly frozen over.

* * *

A Polyjuice derivative. It had to have been. Witches and wizards who'd completed their schooling sometimes struggled to brew the original potion correctly but four teenage boys who seemed to pay next to no attention in Potions had somehow managed to alter it on such a fundamental level was nothing short of incredible.

For Merlin's sakes, they'd somehow made one of the most disgusting potions in the world tasteless.

Wondering how exactly they'd gotten a hold of a bit of Dumbledore, Lily was milling about in the corridor outside the Transfiguration classroom with her fellow sixth years whose score had met with McGonagall's exacting standards during O.W.L.'s when she head them coming.

The Marauder's came sauntering around the corner, still righting their school robes as they graciously accepted the applause and praise from their peers. Lily gave Remus a big grin and tried not to look too startled when a pensive James Potter approached her. He was hesitant, his hands were wavering between his hair and his pockets and he was obviously agitated. "Evans, could we have a word?"

At her side, Marlene not so subtly nudged her in his direction and gave Lily a look that pretty much told her to give the boy a break.

"Uh, sure."

They wandered off down the corridor a little before Potter began. "Look, I'm sorry about last night. We were doing a test run for today and one of the lads decided to torment me a bit. I'm not trying to excuse it but—look... I'm sorry that it made you uncomfortable and I... well, I don't mean to make you so bloody uneasy all the time, Evans. Honest."

Lily couldn't help but smile in response to his sincerity. She realized that this was a rare look at the wonderful person Marlene had always described him to be. Maybe there really was more to James Potter than his ego and quidditch.

"You needn't apologize for the actions of others, Potter, and I'm sorry if I've made you feel that you have to." Knowing she was very likely going to regret this later, Lily hesitated before adding: "Perhaps we could call a truce? I'm not saying that I'll suddenly agree with any of your nonsense, but you've got to be sick of tiptoeing around me and I'm definitely sick of seeing the bad in you. We have enough in common: we share a best friend, classes, Gryffindor pride and some pretty magnificent mates... surely we can learn to get along?"

James seemed to not trust his mouth as he nodded so vigorously and eagerly that Lily wondered whether he was going to give himself a concussion.

"But this doesn't mean we're friends, Potter."

A beaming James acquiesced. "No, of course not, Evans."


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: Mature language/themes and I'm obviously no J K Rowling…this is just my attempt to tell the Marauders story. This is also my first fanfiction so please be patient with me and I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible :)**

 **CHAPTER FOUR**

"Psst, Doe, what's the answer to Number 17?"

"Agrippa's knickers."

Marlene's head landed on her desk with a thud.

As was her habit, McGonagall had completely disregarded the introductory bludge session that most professors conducted on their first day of classes. Instead, she'd stressed the complications inherent with N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration before providing them with a lesson on the dangers inherent with Petrification.

They were both desperately trying to stave off boredom. In Marlene's case, this meant her Charms holiday homework and in Doe's, daydreaming. The lesson itself was alright but those with fathers like Donal McKinnon and Rupert Meadowes had been hearing about these perils since childhood although Doe's upbringing was nothing like that of the boisterous McKinnon menagerie.

Doe knew her father loved her but he didn't exactly know what to do with a child, especially one who the Ministry maintained wasn't allowed to hunt dark wizards until she was at least of age. As such, she'd lived in safe houses for most of her life with a magically fortified jar filled with captured fiendfyre as a nightlight and bedtime stories that were mostly her father's personal accounts of epic duels such as the duel where Dumbledore had bested the dark wizard, Grindelwald. Doe had no memory of her mother so the loss didn't plague her like it did Alice because she'd had a bunch of cantankerous dark wizard hunters who'd filled that void and drilled the finer points of dangerous dark magic including Petrification into her head from an early age.

So, in spite of her admiration for her Head of House, Doe was thoroughly uninterested and it wasn't only the Auror's kids who were bored stupid.

There appeared to be at least four other people who were as indifferent to the lesson as Doe and Marlene but she wasn't sure if she should count Peter as he was sound asleep. Doe had long suspected that the other three boys went well beyond N.E.W.T. level in many of their subjects, as their performance at breakfast had demonstrated. However, their talent and apparent proficiency did nothing to negate from their innate dorkiness.

James Potter was a key example. All it took was one civil conversation with Lily and his resulting smile looked like it could break his face. James was generally so sure of himself, he could answer nearly any question concerning human transfiguration or conjuration but he could barely form a complete sentence where her redheaded friend was concerned.

He was fascinating in an odd sort of way. As were the other three.

From what she had observed, James was the unspoken Marauder in Chief because his protective instincts rivalled those of a niffler with their treasure. Sirius was the mischievous but disturbed rake who relied on James to be his conscience. Remus was their best friend and while he seemed to be the reserved and responsible one, Doe suspected he was actually the kindling that methodically organized his best friends' respective flames and kept everyone guessing. From what Doe could gather, Pete was more like the kid brother that the rest of the Marauders fiercely protected even if they didn't always fully understand.

They were strange but extraordinary wizards and Doe couldn't help but wonder what they would do with themselves once they left Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, her fixation did not go unnoticed.

"Why don't you take a picture, Meadowes? It will last longer than this lesson," the sanctimonious Bertram Aubrey hissed at her, his eyes scathing as they turned on the Marauders.

Doe didn't have much time for the snot nosed Ravenclaw nor his insinuation. "Not a bad idea, Bertie. I could build a shrine and everything. Petition for their very own chocolate frog card or build a monument out of their collective detention slips."

Sirius barked out a laugh at that one and gave her a wink. He really was rather handsome with his dark hair falling in his grey eyes with that sort of casual elegance that he apparently spent hours on if his dorm mates bitching was to be believed. Doe knew for a fact that Doris Purkiss had once written some really soppy poetry about that hair. Poor girl. Doris was currently sitting in the row behind him and eyed him hopefully, though Sirius didn't seem to have noticed as he had yet to threaten her with his 'Black' magic.

A bony elbow connected with her ribs and Marlene's haphazard cursive filled Doe's largely empty scroll. **_QUIT FLIRTING WITH BLACK!_**

Doe rolled her eyes. _Quite aside from the fact that flirting is a waste of my time, I would never flirt with the likes of Sirius Black. You two need to sort out whatever is going on, Marlene. I'm giving you a month before I intervene._

 ** _I'm don't accept meddling from people who pick Black's side!_**

 _There are no sides because you two aren't at war._

 ** _Oh, yes we are!_**

Interesting _. Is he aware of this?_

 ** _HE started it._**

 _Are you sure you didn't start it with all the inbreeding jokes?_

 ** _I'm not talking about first year, Meadowes. I'm talking every year since then._**

Pretty and perfect handwriting materialised beneath this mysterious proclamation. **Would you two quit it? I can practically feel the bickering from over here.**

 ** _FINE! But what did you do to Jay, petal? He looks like that demented cat out of that damn muggle film._**

 **You mean the Cheshire cat and don't pretend you didn't love it, Mar. As for Potter, we've called a truce.**

 _What?_

 ** _WHAT?!_**

 **I've been thinking about it and maybe he isn't all bad. Or maybe he's a massive dickhead who has all of the people I love most fooled. I don't really know. Honestly, I'm just sick of fighting with him all the time.**

 ** _So, you're friends now?_**

 **Acquaintances. Just acquaintances.**

Doe and Marlene shared a look at that one, wondering exactly how long that would last. Lily might be set on nothing more than acquaintances but James Potter had been called a persistent bugger more than once.

It was not an unfair accusation.

* * *

The first week of classes went by in a rather unspectacular fashion after the excitement of the first day. Although the increased influx of homework couldn't begin to compete with the baffling armistice between Lily Evans and James Potter. Of course, the truce seemed to mostly consist of polite but awkward conversation over mealtimes and Lily determinedly ducking out of the way whenever she saw James coming in the corridors.

It seemed that James Potter was more perplexed than any other Hogwarts resident. "Why does she keep running off every time she sees me?"

"Don't take it personally, love," Alice murmured, rubbing his back consolingly.

Marlene took his plate and piled on even more bacon. "I don't think she really knows how to be around you without being disapproving just yet."

"Well, at least before she'd bother to fight with me. I'd take one 'prat', one 'arrogant nincompoop'…anything to get her to talk to me."

Alice smiled at him sympathetically, especially when his supposed best mate plonked down across from him and stole his bacon. "James, be a deer and shut up about Evans for a minute. I need you to explain to me how matricide is illegal again."

The pity party abruptly concluded as James scowled. "What did that hag do now?"

The ensuing discussion was silent and mostly consisted of a single nod from Sirius which lost the interest of everyone else at the Gryffindor table. Except Alice. She watched the concentration, the shock and then the plain old outrage flash across James' handsome face and impatiently waited to pounce.

Although James and Sirius were undeniably inseparable, Alice had increasingly suspected that her housemates silent conversations were actually the artful employment of Legilimency to wade through one another's minds. As someone with an avid interest Occlumency, she was curious to say the least. When a whip-lashed expression appeared on James' face—signifying that Sirius had soundly kicked him out of his head—and he'd gifted a distracted Sirius his plate of bacon, murmuring something that sounded sufficiently comforting, Alice flicked his ear.

Startled hazel eyes met her own.

"I want in."

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't bullshit me, Potter." She lent in and whispered in his ear. "You've taught yourselves Legilimency and possibly Occlumency. I want in."

He looked a little shell-shocked at first then hesitant. "Are you sure, Al?"

"Don't think I can do it?" _Pity_. She'd always had such a high opinion of him.

"Pfft, you'll probably be better than all of us put together within a month. What I meant was: are you sure you want us mucking about in your mind?"

 _Oh_.

"We already know all of each other's secrets," he continued. "Plus, we live together so there isn't ever going to be much in the way of privacy. Don't throw away your secrets so lightly, Al. You need to really think about this."

Alice realized that maybe it would be safer if they didn't know all of her secrets. Besides, she wasn't really sure the heads of teenage wizards were somewhere she ever wished to visit. But… "The Auror program is insanely competitive and only twenty per cent of the witches who apply even graduate to the Auror Office these days. I need every and any advantage I can get. So…if I can find someone to be my partner, would you tutor us?"

James gave her a big, goofy grin. "I'd be honoured but I'm no expert. So I hereby volunteer Sirius, Remus and Pete's help too because we practice on each other all the time and they can pick up my slack."

Considering she'd spent months practicing meditative Occlumency exercises that just felt like she was sitting there and humming to herself, Alice was ecstatic. So happy that, Hera help her, she should've guessed that Fate was about to throw her for a loop.

Her excitement bubbling over, Alice leant over to kiss James' scruffy cheek just as he turned to ask her a follow up question and their lips locked briefly. They drew back from one another, laughing but they were so caught up in their conversation that Alice hadn't noticed that Frank and Lily had wandered into the Great Hall together, probably discussing prefect timetables or something else prefect-ly. But the kiss, which was meant and received in friendship, probably appeared to be a little bit too friendly to certain people.

Lily raised an eyebrow but said nothing about the matter as she sat and helped herself to a Cornish pasty, saying a brisk hello to a slightly pink James.

Unfortunately, Frank wasn't quite as used to the awkward situations Alice often found herself in as Lily so he looked bewildered then pitifully dejected as he gave Lily some lame excuse and trudged off to go sit with his seventh-year friends.

If even Frank could believe that she had a thing for James Potter, half of Hogwarts would be placing bets about their wedding and future babies by dinner time.

Bloody hell.

* * *

Walburga Black could give Voldemort a run for his money as evil megalomaniac of the decade, as far as James was concerned.

She'd sent a three-year-old child a cursed Black family heirloom, all because Nymphadora Tonks had had the audacity to be born the halfblooded daughter of her niece, Andromeda Tonks née Black.

A kid's birthday was supposed to be a beautiful occasion but that had been obliterated by a deranged old woman's puritanical nonsense. Halfblood, pureblood, muggleborn...James honestly could not comprehend people's preoccupation with this blood business. What two consenting adults created behind closed doors was nobody else's business. Besides, a baby was a baby—no matter who the kid's parents were. Although, Orion and Walburga Black had certainly done a number on their two: a baby Deatheater and Sirius, who was on the verge of going completely off the rails.

It had taken everything James had to convince Sirius to reign in his wrath. Still, Sirius was struggling. James couldn't exactly blame him either. Andromeda was Sirius' favourite cousin—although it wasn't much of a competition as the rest of his family ran the gamut from scummy to vile—and Sirius positively worshipped little Nym now that she was toilet trained. The fact that Sirius had only discovered the Tonks family's recent visit to St. Mungo's from one of his horrible cousins seemed to exacerbate the situation.

James felt utterly helpless and sincerely wished there was more he could do to help but there wasn't much that could cheer Sirius up in Potions.

Or was there?

With Remus pretending not to be staring at Doe and Pete nodding off beside him, James decided to go rogue.

He knew the perfect person to help him with that, too. James lent back in his seat as far as he could go, resting his head on Marlene's desk and pulled out the puppy dog eyes. "Oi, you wanna help me with something?"

Marlene stopped doodling on the edges of Lily's notes and narrowed her midnight eyes at him. "What sort of something?"

"Hang on." James cast the Notatio spell on his parchment and began writing. **What would you say if I said I had an idea?**

 ** _I'd say I'm intrigued._** Marlene responded almost instantly.

 **Come on. It's for a good cause.** Best not mention it was for Sirius. **It'll irritate Sluggy.** The professor had pontificated something shocking because he'd handed in homework Wormtail had gnawed at the edges of so James was more than willing to play on Marlene's dislike for the sycophantic Potions Master.

 ** _I'm in._** Too easy. **_But Lily wants her concerned registered._**

 **Noted.** And promptly ignored. Taking care of Sirius trumped appeasing Lily's unwarranted concerns.

James started scribbling away, detailing his theory about heightening the _Aguamenti_ charm with the addition of an Inundatio vector to create a downpour instead of a simple string of water because Sirius liked thunderstorms. Marlene offered her own spin on things as well as some precautions that she felt were necessary for some reason but soon, they had formulated a pretty solid plan.

They waited until Slughorn was mid-rant before Marlene flicked her wand and swiftly cast a series of Bubble Head Charms on everyone within the subterranean classroom. Slughorn let out a flabbergasted cry at the abrupt appearance of a bubble covering half of his face but the tirade he was gearing up to give was quite literally drowned out when James whispered " _Aguamenti Inundatio_ " and the entire classroom flooded.

So much for the shower he had planned. It ended up blowing the classroom door off its hinges and accidentally flooding the dungeons.

Of course, that was the part which made Sirius roar with laughter. James hadn't even had a chance to conjure up motorbike riding write sprites in the lightening as he'd had planned. _Oh well._

Sirius hauled him out of classroom ahead of everyone else and they swam out towards the staircase that would take them to the dry safety of the Entrance Hall. "What was that, you lunatic?" he tossed over his shoulder. "Remind me to never, ever leave you and McKinnon responsible for prank planning again."

It hadn't really been a prank though and the flood had definitely lifted Sirius' spirits.

"I think we did just fine."

* * *

After an afternoon spent drying out books, school supplies and more importantly, the Marauder's Map, Remus headed down to dinner early with every intention of spiflicating James Charlus Potter. James was already there, wand tucked behind his ear as he wrote up announcement notices for quidditch trails which he'd scheduled for the upcoming weekend.

Remus slapped him over the back of his head as he took a seat beside him. "Really? You didn't have ten seconds to warn me?"

"You were too preoccupied with a pretty face to notice much of anything," James responded with a quick grin. "Is the Map alright?"

"Fine." The Preserving Charm was holding strong and even an idiotic and supposedly accidental flood couldn't breach that.

"And I _am_ sorry. I was just trying to distract Padfoot."

Seeing as Sirius had been acting like someone had pissed in his porridge all morning, Remus' indignation faded. He was also glad because no one could wrangle Sirius Black better than James Potter. "I get that but the next time you might possibly cause a natural disaster, a heads up would be appreciated."

Nodding, James flicked his wand and his finished quidditch trial announcements were airborne, flapping off to affix themselves to various parts of the castle. The Gryffindor quidditch team's playbook—which had been enchanted with more secrecy spells than was necessary, especially considering James quite literally slept with the damn book—was open on the table before them and James was frowning thoughtfully. "I don't know how we're ever going to find someone to replace Jo as seeker."

Josephine Shacklebolt had been picked up by the Holyhead Harpies before she'd even graduated Hogwarts and was dominating as seeker in the British and Irish Quidditch League. If that wasn't extraordinary enough, Jo was also the sole female who had ever distracted James from Lily for any period of time.

"How about Kingsley?" Jo's little brother was a studious second year who hero worshipped James.

"He's not ready yet," James responded, his affection for the kid plain on his face. "Maybe next year."

"Don't think he's ready to deal with your bullshit yet, anyway."

Every year, James forced the existing members of the Gryffindor team to undergo arduous trials of their own during the tryout period. It wasn't because he'd lost faith in any of them but because he wanted the entire school to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that theirs was truly the best team Gryffindor could muster. Despite his overly confident persona, Prongs was paranoid about living up to the title of quidditch captain and would settle for nothing but the best.

"He's a Shacklebolt, he'd take it all with dignity which is more than I can say for Sirius. I was dismantling booby traps for months last year's tryouts."

Remus rolled his eyes at James' grumbling when Marlene came barrelling towards them. She was pouting and after taking a seat next to James, she dropped her onto his shoulder which he patted gently. James knew better than anyone to wait Marlene out when she was in a snit.

Marlene, ever allergic to peace and quiet, squirmed. "My grandmother owled."

Oleandra Selwyn was a batty old woman that would never forgive her daughter, Maeve, for marrying a bloodtraitor like Donal McKinnon. Unfortunately, this manifested as trying to bully her grandchildren into what she deemed respectable pureblood matches. "She's organized a date for me with Bertram bloody Aubrey and she's threatening to withhold payment for Rory's treatment if I don't rock up."

Marlene's brother Rory had a strain of lupus which, when mixed with the magic in his veins, led to a rare and debilitating condition that required regular treatment. The McKinnon's had accepted Oleandra's financial assistance when they'd exhausted their goodwill at Gringotts but the old woman had been using Rory as a bargaining chip ever since.

A date with Bertram Aubrey was strange and unusual punishment though. "Why Aubrey?" Remus wondered out loud. There were so many purebloods to choose from...why pick the most pious and priggish?

"She tried to force Mum into an engagement with his father forever ago so she's decided that I should become an Aubrey. She's been trying to arrange this for years but I've been putting her off." So the old woman had gotten desperate.

James was frowning. "I'll pay for Rory's treatment."

"No."

"Mar, I—"

"I know you have the money, Jay, but I am done being indebted to people. It screws with the entire dynamic of a relationship and you are too important to me to borrow any amount of money off of you."

James nodded but he didn't look happy about it. "So, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going on that date to cover this month and then I'm going to find some other way to help my folks pay for Rory's treatment. We're done being indebted to that woman."

"You're going to go on a date with Aubrey?"

"That way my darling grand-monster will think she's getting her way and it won't raise any suspicions."

Remus nodded because lulling the old woman into a false sense of security was sneaky and a total Marley move.

"Plus, Alice and Mary have offered to follow us around and hex him if he gets handsy or anything." Marlene blew a kiss down the table to the two witches in question. Mary winked and Alice pretended to catch the airborne kiss and stuff it down her bra which elicited chuckles all around.

"Also, I'm bringing Lil to tryouts on Saturday. Moral support and all that," Marlene murmured, like she hadn't just dropped a bomb on Prongs.

James gaped. "B-but Lily hates quidditch."

"False. She hates flying and she hates when people make a fuss over your quidditch prowess. The sport itself, she is okay with." Marlene made an unsuccessful play for James' strategy book before turning on Remus. "Oh and Rem, I've volunteered _you_ to teach her the finer points. She's already reading Quidditch Through the Ages in preparation."

That sounded like Lily but... "What exactly provoked this sudden interest?"

"It's part of her Snape rehabilitation: broadening her horizons and trying new things. We're all giving her new things to try—or in this case, revisit—which will distract her."

"Let me guess what your suggestion was," Remus teased of the only person on the Gryffindor quidditch team who could rival James' quidditch mania.

Marlene flipped him off with a good-natured grin. "Also, Lily was explaining some of the history to Alice and she is pretty pissed off that sports like Swivenhodge and Stichstock inspired quidditch, due to the mistreatment of the magical creatures involved so have fun with that one, Rem."

"Oh great, give me the easy jobs."

* * *

Saturday morning arrived with a crow from one of Hagrid's roosters and the ranting and raving of one Marlene McKinnon.

There was only one thing that could piss Marlene off so spectacularly, Lily thought with a sigh, and that would be Rune. Lily's beautiful black Burmese cat fulfilled every bad witchy stereotype from those cornily incorrect muggle movies but nevertheless, she loved him.

Marlene... not so much. At best, Rune was indifferent to Marlene's existence. At worst, he moved his litter box in front of the shower whilst Marlene was inside it in what was later described by Marlene as a 'blatant assassination attempt'. This morning, however, it appeared that Rune had soiled and slashed Mar's quidditch robes before running for cover under Lily's four-poster. Mary was trying to appease Marlene when Rune's tiny paw came out from beneath Lily's bed and the sleep deprived Marley started screaming that the cat was flipping her off.

"Marley, sweetie, calm down!" Alice murmured from her bed, pulling a pillow over her face to try and drown out the sound.

"Do not tell me to calm down! LILY! YOUR CAT IS SATANIC!"

The troublemaker in question leapt up onto Lily's bed and burrowed down under the covers. Lily frowned down at the purring bump beside her. "Rune's not evil, Mar, he just knows you don't like him and I'm sorry about your robes." She located her wand in amongst the covers and flicked it at Marlene's quidditch kit, correcting her miscreant cat's mess.

Marlene growled. "Jay's going to put me through the ringer today, babe. Not because he's a dick, although I'll probably call him a whole lot worse than that, but because he wants to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that I deserve to be on that team regardless of my rack or our friendship. So just please keep that demon you call cat away from me."

"You got it, Mar."

Lily pulled on her fluffy robe, picked up the offending feline and headed for the stairs. After planting Rune in the lap of a delighted second year named Hazel, who promised to keep him entertained, Lily crept down to the kitchens and asked the houselves if she could possibly have a basket made up with eggs on toast with an avocado and fried tomatoes. Tinky, one of the sweetest creatures Lily had ever met, made up the whole thing with flasks of orange juice and some fruit as well. After thanking the house elves, Lily carefully carried the tray back up to her dormitory for Marlene and gifted Hazel with a cupcake for taking care of her cantankerous cat.

Alice and Doe had already headed down to the quidditch pitch by the time she got back but Mary was sitting on Marlene's feet while she did her sit ups. Lily held up the basket with a weak smile. "Peace offering?"

"Thanks, petal." Marlene accepted the gift with a small smile. "Make sure you rug up, it'll be cold in the stands."

Lily grinned and got ready in record time, wearing her ruby red jumper and Gryffindor scarf in a show of support. Mary tossed Lily her winter coat before the three of them headed down to the quidditch pitch which was already teeming with hopeful and spectating students. Marlene appeared almost ambivalent about the sheer number trying out and Lily could see her mentally cataloguing each and every face; pinpointing any potential threats to her chaser position amongst them so Lily wished her distracted friend luck before heading towards the stands with Mary.

Alice lay length ways across a pew near the top of the stands, effectively reserving their seats. She eyed Lily curiously. "Marlene didn't maim you. I must say I'm impressed."

"I'm sorry for the early wake up call, Al," Lily replied, taking a seat and grinning when Alice promptly snuggled up against her. "Where's Doe got to?"

"Library, of course. Apparently, it's too cold and there's too many people out here."

"Of course," Lily chuckled but soon decided Doe had the right idea because it was bloody cold.

Her knight with body warming provisions arrived in the form of Remus Lupin, who came armed with blankets and a thermos full of steaming hot chocolate. Once they were all rugged up, Remus began. "So usually how this works is: James will torment his teammates, prove their mettle before the hopefuls and then those that brave enough to stick around will play a game, switching positions as James instructs them to."

"What do you mean by torment exactly?" Quidditch was a pretty brutal sport and that word worried her a bit.

Alice interrupted. "Nothing nefarious, petal, he just runs them ragged with drills and tests their strategic understanding of the game until any normal person would have a nervous breakdown."

"They never do," Remus quickly assured her. "They understand his reasons but the weak hopefuls flake and only the ones with true potential stick around."

Lily could see the reasoning behind this—better to have people who knew exactly what they were getting into but it didn't make it any easier to watch though.

As chasers, Marlene and Gideon Prewitt did something called the Porskoff Ploy over twenty times, with James serving as the opposing chaser, and then he had the two of them practice reverse passes until they managed to accurately do so at insane speeds. Sirius and Fabian Prewitt, the beaters, were tasked with knocking out a series of rapidly moving targets with something Remus called a Dobblebeater Defense until James blew the whistle and Sirius threw his beating bat at his head. Lily personally felt sorriest for Frank. As keeper, Frank trialled something Lily had read about called the double eight loop which essentially meant he flew around all three goal hoops as fast as humanly possible. He did well for the first twenty minutes, until one of the quaffles James was aiming his way caught the back of his broom and sent him crashing into the stands.

Alice had gone preternaturally still beside her until a mostly unscathed Frank jumped up out of the rubble to caterwaul at his captain.

Half an hour after the team looked like they could take no more, James dismissed them with an approving grin. The team headed for the locker rooms to lick their wounds except for Sirius, who stuck around to help James run the newbies ragged.

Marlene materialized after the first thirty were dismissed from the field, freshly showered and seizing one of Remus' chocolate cauldrons while watching the last ten potentials with a critical eye. Everyone seemed to be watching with bated breath for Potter's choices but it'd been three hours and Lily was getting bored. Consequently, she was the only one who noticed Frank dashing up the stand steps towards them, Marley's bag slung over his arm and uncertainty all over his face. Poor Frank couldn't even articulate his feelings for Alice and now he thought… what? She'd moved on to Potter? Lily would've been sympathetic if the whole situation wasn't so completely stupid.

"Your Headship," Mary called, springing up out of her seat to curtsey prettily and toppling back on Remus because of it.

Frank gifted her with a grin before tossing Marlene her kit and acknowledging everyone except the one on Lily's left. Lily felt Alice fidget and start braiding pieces of her hair, something she tended to do when she was nervous before she blurted out, "Frank, the other d—"

"James is a great guy, Alice. I get it, really I do, you shouldn't feel the need to explain yourself," Frank mumbled at the space above Alice's head.

"But—"

"Nothing," Frank interrupted, heading back down the stairs. "I—uh, I've gotta go."

The butt-hurt boy had to be blind if he truly believed Alice could ever be interested in James bloody Potter. For her part, Alice seemed to have been rendered speechless because what in Merlin's name was she supposed to say to someone who seemed to have so completely made his mind up.

The silence that descended could have been awkward but just as soon as Lily enveloped Alice in her arms, Mary demanded to know why Remus had grown so tall and insinuated he'd done so simply for attention.


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: Mature language/themes and I'm obviously no J K Rowling…this is just my attempt to tell the Marauders story. This is also my first fanfiction so please be patient with me and I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible :)**

 **CHAPTER FIVE**

Frank left the Gryffindor locker room with Lily's words haunting him. Not the bit about the Devil's Snare, although he probably should be a little more concerned about the disappointed redhead's wrath...no, it was the bit about hurting Alice that plagued him.

Frank never wanted to hurt Alice.

True, he _had_ been pretty pissed off before Lily pulled him up for it. All week, Frank had been so butt-hurt that he'd fought his innate compulsion to seek her out—trying to give himself some time to calm down. A decision which led to days with little more than a glimpse of her.

It wasn't that Frank hadn't known where to find Alice. He'd had some preternatural sense of every time she entered the same room for nearly two years now. No, it was more that he hadn't been sure if he could face her without doing something stupid…like yelling. While all the yelling had ultimately been directed at James, he'd still been a stupid, spiteful shit and Frank wouldn't be surprised if Alice never spoke to his immature arse again.

Locking up the broom shed with a sigh, Frank turned and spotted Alice lying in the middle of the pitch, stargazing with some blankets she'd evidently swiped from Remus. He stared at her for a moment before heading over there because Frank was sick of trying to ignore Alice Fortescue.

A pair of deep brown eyes tracked his progress until Frank dropped down beside her. "I'm sorry for being such a jealous bastard."

"I'm sorry for kissing James."

They were both quiet for a moment before Alice rolled onto her stomach to peer down at him. "I really don't know what to say, Frank. I'm guessing Lily gave you a serve earlier but…I don't want to do that and I really wasn't trying to make you jealous. James agreed to help me train for the Auror program and I went to kiss his cheek but he turned his head at just the wrong time and I know it looked bad but—"

"You don't have to explain yourself to me, Alice," Frank murmured, irritated with himself for overreacting in the first place.

"Well, why not? We could've avoided a whole week of this angsty crap if you'd simply asked for an explanation instead of jumping to your own conclusions. What's going on with you, Frank? We wrote to each other every day over the summer and then suddenly, we're back at Hogwarts and you're some respectful stranger who I never see. You were barely speaking to me and then you blow up about me kissing James, which granted, didn't look great but was really, truly an accident. What is going on with you?"

Frank wasn't even sure where to begin but Alice's frustrated sigh indicated that he was running out of time to come out with one. So he took a deep breath and attempted to plunder his way through some sort of explanation. "You scare the crap out of me, Alice."

Not the absolute worst thing he could've said.

A close second though.

Alice was certainly not prepared for it. Instead of outrage though, she frowned at him and in a very Doe-like manner demanded: "Explain."

"My father was fired for standing up for a muggleborn witch and I couldn't help thinking...we're growing up in the midst of a war that we know next to nothing about. The Daily Prophet makes the Dark Lord out to be a self-aggrandizing maniac and paints his followers as mere puppets but they've massacred and tortured in the name of blood purity. I realized that sooner or later, we're all going to have to pick our sides and play our roles. Then I got Head Boy. I've spent years trying to be the perfect son, the ideal student and the best friend I could possibly be but does any of that really matter when there is a war going on? I can think of five people who deserve the Headship so much more than me, Al. People who show real leadership potential and who will actually be useful in the war effort. People like you, Alice."

Frank couldn't help but grin at her eye roll. "You spent your holidays voluntarily taking care of fire-breathing and posionous creatures that I wouldn't go near for all the gold in Gringotts. Your defensive spellwork is well beyond NEWT level and when I watch you duelling with your girls, I can see all of you were born to be out on the battlefield but that's not me, Al. You are an incredible witch, Alice Fortescue, and you are far too good for me."

"What a load of centaur shit!" Alice exclaimed, startling the hell out of him. "Do you really think Dumbledore would've elected some pansy arsed prick as our Head Boy? Or that I would have a thing for anyone _boring_? Sure, you're nice to look at and that doesn't hurt but you're also kind and paitent and you're constantly striving to be the best person you can be. You are smarter and braver than you know, Frank Longbottom. Sure, you're also insecure and evidently capable of being a jealous twat but so are most people at some point or another." Alice grinned at him, gathering one of the blankets tighter around them both. "So…do you maybe want to come to the Marauders Halloween party with me tomorrow night?"

"I would love—"

Something slimy with tentacles smacked him square in the face. Alice shrieked, first with surprise then laughter as another projectile came courtesy of a righteous Sirius Black. "You owe Prongs an apology, Longbottom!" the lunatic shouted, readying another jellyfish. "And two extra practices for being such a prat!"

Reasoning with Sirius was nigh on impossible unless you were a Marauder and even though Frank considered Sirius a friend, he couldn't deny that the guy was completely mental. After some infantile argument pitting Puddlemere United against the Chudley Cannons in his second year, Sirius had challenged Frank to a duel. The daft git had shown up wearing a full suit of armour which he'd 'borrowed' from the Charms corridor before concussing himself with his own scabbard.

Still, jellyfish as ammunition was a new one.

Another wriggly sea creature came flying. Only this one had the misfortune to hit Alice, who had been preoccupied providing the very much alive missiles with some water to splash around in. "SIRIUS ONION BLACK!"

"It's Orion!" he hollered back.

"I prefer Onion!"

Sirius chortled at that before his eyes focused on Frank again with malicious intent.

"Put that poor creature down, you prat!" Alice growled, her wand appearing out of the blankets she was swimming in. The material was thrust at Frank in a silent request to hold her blankets as she stood to face off against Sirius. Frank felt a bit useless but he wasn't about to nay say his knight in pink and purple tights because Alice was defending him and it was awful bloody cute.

Plus, even Sirius seemed to think twice before messing with her.

Realizing it was the smartest option available to him, Sirius sent all of the jellyfish soaring into the Black Lake and conjured a string of quaffles to replace his ammunition in a rapid succession of wandwork. He quaked a brow at Alice, who nodded exasperatedly.

Before the fool could launch his next attack however, Frank rose to his feet, moving slightly in front of Alice. "We're coming to the Halloween bash tomorrow night. I'll apologize to James then."

Sirius nodded once. The quaffles disappeared. "Good plan. Lily will be there distracting him with her existence so he'll be particularly forgiving." With a big, toothy grin, Sirius surveyed the pair of them and their evacuated position on the pitch. "You two can get back to your snuggle-fest but, as Filch will be here in precisely three minutes thanks to the soaring sea life , I'd suggest a change in location." With a smirk, Sirius turned and left.

Alice sighed. "Being Head Boy won't save you from the thumbs screws, Frank, so we'd best heed the warning and head on back."

Frank rolled his eyes at the mere mention of the caretaker's sadistic proclivities but helped Alice quickly gather up the blankets nevertheless. He didn't want Filch to spoil what had turned out to be a pretty incredible evening.

* * *

The Halloween Feast had always been one of the most highly anticipated events of the Hogwarts school year. For the older students, however, the after party was much more momentous. The feast may have imaginative meals, a ghostly performance and enough sweets to put the younger students into sugar comas...but the after party had drama, intrigue and alcohol—although only after the overly excitable students in the younger years had been safely corralled into their dormitories. Moreover, Alice couldn't think of any other time of year when it was socially acceptable to carry a around carved pumpkin filled with self-replenishing candy to snack on. Or, in Marlene's case, to shower unsuspecting victims with.

The sweets were about the only thing that was getting Alice through waiting for Frank.

She had offered to pick Frank up at his dormitory door all romantic like but he and the Head Girl, Claudia Bones, had scheduled themselves for rounds to give the rest of the prefects the night off. Alice admired his commitment and selflessness but she was impatient to start their date and two whole hours felt like an eternity at that moment.

Fortunately, there were no shortage of distractions.

The Come and Go Room had been transformed into what Alice could only assume, as she'd never been there herself, was the heart of the Forbidden Forest. Trees that curved into seating abounded and a creepy old muggle carousal stood in the very centre of the room, deceptively small housing for the sprawling and psychedelic dance floor.

Remus was feeling poorly again and although they were still trying to figure out how to peacefully coexist themselves, Lily and James had joined forces to take care him. Lily had whipped him up a Draught of Peace in an inconspicuous goblet and animatedly chatted away to him whilst James kept up a steady supply of chocolate as he nudged the pair closer to the bonfire that spewed enchanted fireworks with spooky stories flickering through the technicolour flames.

After helping Pete light the space by affixing ghostly chandeliers to the tallest branches available to them, Alice had also noticed that the cold war between Marlene and Sirius sembed to be raging on. Arriving fashionably late, the blonde bombshell had wandered into the room in a backless black dress. Sirius, who had been coming through another door with the evening's more elicit beverages, had instantly focused on her and stalled. He hadn't turned away, so neither had Mar. That went on for about three minutes until James—oblivious to the staring contest—slammed into Sirius' back and the drinks nearly went flying. The threat to the alcohol seemed to startle Sirius enough that he returned to setting up the booze table and ignoring Marlene's existence.

Deciding that she didn't want to get involved in whatever the hell was going on with those two, Alice wandered over to the impressive spread of food that she wouldn't eat for all the gold in Gringotts. She'd seen one unsuspecting fifth year swear a blue streak earlier as she transformed into the carbon copy of Argus Filch whilst her boyfriend's entire skeletal system glowed beneath the surface of his skin. The magic was remarkable but unpredictable…much like the mischief-makers who had made the evening happen.

After a welcoming speech to beware pretty much everything in the place, the boys had proceeded to make sure everyone was enjoying themselves enormously. James and Pete were conducting a magical take on some muggle game called beer-pong with a large and rectangular tree stump that had been raised to waist height, with quidditch goalposts at either end that shifted heights and sizes as the game wore on.

Alice wandered over to where the other two Marauders had somehow managed to talk both Lily and Doe—not to mention nearly every female in seventh year—into a game of spin the bottle. A miracle in and of itself, Alice couldn't drag her eyes away. It was evidently Sirius' turn and he blanched considerably when the empty firewhiskey bottle landed on Lily.

However, a moment later, the bottle mysteriously moved two inches to the right to point at one Remus Lupin.

"Damn, guess I've gotta kiss Moony now..." Sirius said, wiggling his eyebrows at his victim before launching himself at Remus while many others called foul for the last minute movement.

Alice enjoyed the exasperated expression on Remus' face as he fought off Sirius' amorous attentions before an arm linked with her own, startling her back to her immediate surroundings and she met Marlene's dark eyes.

"Miss Fortescue, I just heard a most scandalous rumour about you," her obviously tipsy friend crooned.

"And what would that be?"

"That you and Frank Longbottom not only fixed things, but were caught getting frisky by Filch out on the quidditch pitch. Could this be true?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "There was no friskiness and if there were, you know I'd never allow Filch catch us."

Marlene smirked, gesturing for Mary to bring them some more drinks. "I know he's been a sulky shit of late but he's a good egg. I mean, aside from the sweetheart thing, you could keep that boy around for the decorative value alone."

"What Marlene is trying to say, and poorly I might add, is that we approve," Mary amended as she arrived, handing them both fresh butterbeers. " _And_ we have a present for you."

Alice arched an eyebrow but allowed her friends to drag her out of the party and into the corridor. She suspected they were on a mission to find Frank and was therefore surprised when they stopped abruptly in the middle of a deserted corridor and tossed her into a broom closet.

She landed face-first in Frank's lap before being showered with glitter and sweets as her psychotic excuses for friends slammed the door shut behind her. As Frank helped a furiously flushing Alice right herself, the maniacs helpfully shouted.

"IT'S A HALLOWEEN MIRACLE!"

"WE CALL DO OVER!"

"GET FRISKY!"

"YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT!"

Their giggling was hysterical but it petered out as they scurried back to the party and after checking the door which was magically sealed, Alice realized she finally had what she'd wanted all night... time alone with Frank. She glanced up at the bemused boy in question, whose Gryffindor tie had been fixed like a bow around his head, and grinned sheepishly at her. "Claudia helped them. I was outnumbered."

"You poor thing," Alice murmured, fixing his tie and snuggling up against his broad chest, deciding that just maybe she wouldn't exact sweet vengeance on Mary and Marlene after all. "How were patrols before your abduction?"

* * *

"You surprise me, Evans."

She turned from the bar to find Sirius Black studying her like one would study a bug under a microscope.

Not sure whether to be alarmed or gratified by his words, Lily wandered over to the ornamental old oak tree stump to sit next to Sirius and gave her feet a reprieve from her heels which had been an order of Marlene's, masquerading as a suggestion. "How's that?"

Lily could never really tell where she stood with Sirius.

The boy was essentially the embodiment of everything illicit.

He was seductive if his odyssey through the female—and sometimes male, if the rumours were to be believed—populace of Hogwarts was anything to go by, addictive and a damned good way to get into trouble…or dead, if she took into account his insane relations. Sirius was also a diabolically quick-witted and remarkably talented wizard. Half of the time, she couldn't be sure if he was joyously plotting her demise or actively trying to hook her up with his best friend.

Even with such an obvious strain on their relationship, Lily felt oddly safe with him, though not necessarily safe from him.

"I strongly suspect that you iron your jeans, Evans," Sirius said thoughtfully, magnanimously offering her some of his firewhiskey which she soundlessly accepted. "But underneath all the prim and proper, you're kind of extraordinary. You're one of the most talented witches I've ever met, muggleborn or not. You've not only helped keep Moony's condition a secret but you slip him potions to help him in the aftermath and cover for him constantly with classes and prefect shit. Hell, you've been using Sluggy's parties to talk to potioneers about a possible cure for years."

"Remus is my friend," Lily said simply. "He's a wonderful person and so long as he's secured, he poses no danger to anyone besides himself. Remus doesn't deserve to be hated or feared because an actual monster came after him."

Sirius chuckled and shook his head, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Lily was getting good and ready to go off at him when Sirius finally said, "I know you think you hate him and all, but you sounded just like James when you said that. Moony's lucky to have the two of you in his corner...and that reminds me, I have a favour to ask." He cleared his throat. "I know James can be a bit of a twat but every teenager is a twat at some point or another, Evans. So, could you try to do this truce thing properly? James is trying...trying my bloody patience but he _is_ trying to become a better person and you treating him like a leper one moment and a misbehaving child the next is not helping. So, maybe just stop running away every time you see him?"

Lily was surprised by Sirius' candidacy. If Potter was truly trying to clean up his act then she would be supportive. For Remus' sake...for Marley's sake...for the sake of her own rampant curiosity. "Alright."

"Alright?"

She nodded. "Alright. I'll take it seriously but he hexes so much as one person without just cause and I'll leave him dangling from the Astronomy Tower by his ankles."

"Appreciate the warning." Sirius gifted her with a genuine grin. "You are going to make a fierce Mrs Potter one day, Evans."

"I agreed to respect the truce, Sirius, not walk down the aisle with him."

"If Prongs was able to wear me and Remus down, then he'll get to you too eventually, Evans. He's a contagiously loveable bugger."

Lily watched as the guy in question took a steaming mug over to Remus and stretched out next to him by the fire. One animated story with lots of arm waving later and he had the previously sombre Remus chuckling. He followed up that impressive feat with an equally impressive one: coaxing Doe away from her book and into their discussion, which made Remus blush but grin all the same.

If James Potter could be _that_ guy more often, then maybe Lily could make a friendship would work with him.

Maybe.

* * *

The party was winding down, with only a couple of brave stragglers holding on but Doe was done for the evening.

Her feet hurt and she wanted to burn every ABBA record ever sold. Ironically, 'Super Trouper' had been one of her favourites...that was, until Marlene had insisted it be played six consecutive times and James bloody Potter, the ever indulgent wanker, listened to her.

A warm arm wrapped around her waist as Remus shifted in his sleep. The poor guy had finally passed out half an hour ago, insisting that he stay to see through the evening he had helped pull together. Focusing for a moment, Doe wished their stumpy tree bench into something more comfrtable and praised Persephone when the stump transformed into a comfy couch, long enough to fit both of their long frames.

Even though he was the dead weight trapping her in ABBA hell, Doe couldn't bring herself to shove him off and call it quits for the evening.

After being dragged away from the safety of her book by James Potter who insisted that the literary world would wait for her, Doe had reached for some passing fudge only to have Remus rescue her from one of the more nefariously spelled foods, instead showing her the Marauders secret stash of mischief-free food and drinks inside a nearby tree trunk. He'd also kept up a downright hilarious commentary of their friends' actions spanning from the three brawls Mary had 'accidentally' started to the motives of Marlene, who'd threw her elderflower punch in Sirius' face, which prompted a quite literal roar for retribution.

Being obviously under the weather, Remus was also a brilliant people deterrent. The only people who'd even approached them had been Potter, who was hovering, and Peter, who had been in desperate need of some confidence building to go ask Patrice Mattigan for a dance. Although Doe found the Hufflepuff in question irritating and astoundingly dimwitted, Peter's shy hopefulness was enough to eclipse her incredulity of his choices and wish him luck as he went off in search of the mousy blonde.

"Moonykins and Dorkykins, sitting in a— well, you were in a tree, why'd you change it?" Sirius Black, who was well beyond wasted at this point, meandered over and dropped down to the ground before them with a frown.

"Comfort." Obviously.

Seeming to only just notice that his friend wasn't exactly up for a chat, Sirius directed his next question to her. "Is Moony alright?"

"Downright celestial." At Sirius' blank look, she amended. "Exhausted but physically fine."

"I see why Remus likes you. You're strange." Sirius procured a flask and took a swig. "Do you like him?"

Doe considered. "I don't dislike him. He proved to be very thoughtful and quite droll while conscious."

"You're very...direct."

"I am. Most people find it an irritating character defect but Mary says it makes me much more interesting and Lily says it makes my advice more reliable."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully. "It's always good to have an honest opinion."

"Until you say something people would rather not hear and then you're suddenly a bitch." Although Doe rarely had that issue with her friends. If she said something they didn't like, they either calmly explained why they disagreed, exercised their selective hearing or flipped her off. But there was never any malice to it and for that, Doe was grateful. "Speaking of, you have three different shades of lipstick on your shirt and not one of them suit your skin tone."

Sirius' sniggering caused Remus to subconsciously snuggle in closer and Doe fought the urge to sweep a few stray curls out of his eyes, to stroke his hair—like Lily did for her sometimes. It was an uncharacteristically tender impulse and Doe frowned down at the male fast asleep in her lap. "Perhaps we should move him," she said to Sirius, feeling heat rise in her face and suddenly noticing that Frank Longbottom had turned up to shepherd the remaining students off to bed, indicating that it was well past midnight and a member of staff could descend on them at any moment. "He'll sleep better in his bed."

"I somehow doubt that," Sirius muttered, but helped haul his friend off her all the same. Although puzzled by his comment, Doe moved swiftly to support Remus' weight when the overgrown guy stirred slightly. "But I'm on cleaning crew and James will have me up for quidditch practice in five hours so we'd best get him back."

The two of them assisted a semi-conscious Remus back to Gryffindor Tower and up the stairs into the sixth year boys dormitory. After depositing him on his four-poster bed, Sirius knelt down to rid Remus of his shoes and Doe turned to make a hasty retreat.

"Thank you for taking care of my moon, Meadowes," Sirius called after her.

"Anytime, Black," Doe returned, surprised by her own sincerity.

Racing down the boys' staircase and up the girls', Doe had every intention of discussing her odd evening with Lily, the one least likely to mercilessly tease her.

However, when Doe pushed open the door to her dormitory and got a gander at the debacle awaiting her, she decided that the conversation could hold. Alice had Oren in her arms and was levitating about a foot above her bed in an impressive use of a self-directed but ill-advised Hover Charm whilst Mary was bragging about her blossoming hickey and Marlene was trying to wriggle out the window to "FREE THE PIXIES!" although where she thought she'd find Cornish pixies at this time of year was beyond Doe. Ever the sane one in such a shitstorm, Lily patiently listened to Mary prattle on about her foxy conquest for the vending and simultaneously tried to wrestle Marlene back inside.

Once Marlene was clear of the window, Doe flicked her wand to shut and seal the damn thing closed until sunrise. She also summoned some sobering solution from Lily's not-so-secret stash beneath a loose floorboard and offered it to their pixie rights campaigner.

"Drink it or you're going to be in for a very cold shower." That way she could be a wet drunk.

"Maybe I like cold showers."

"Maybe I'll go get Sirius and make him do it." Although Doe was confident that if the situation called for Marlene and a shower, she wouldn't have to 'make' Black do anything.

"Treacherous bint! Where's the loyalty?"

" _This_ is loyalty." Doe handed her the vial. "You have to be up for quidditch practice in a few hours and I doubt Potter will consider a hangover a good excuse when you live with the queen of sobering solutions."

Marlene scowled but conceded the point and put back the potion like she was downing a shot. As the blonde swayed groggily, Lily rushed forward and helped Marlene into the bathroom to brush her teeth while Doe dealt out solutions to the other two and got an earful from Mary about Hestia Jones' snogging skills.

Maybe she'd discuss things with Lily in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER: Mature language/themes and I'm obviously no J K Rowling…this is just my attempt to tell the Marauders story. This is also my first fanfiction so please be patient with me and I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible**

 **CHAPTER SIX**

The first Hogsmeade trip arrived all too soon and as the students of Hogwarts descended upon the picturesque wizarding village, Marlene was surprised to learn that Bertram Aubrey was not the single worst wizard in the world to go on a date with.

Sure, he was pompous but he could also be attentive, courteous and amusing when the mood struck him. He'd opened every door to every store Marlene had wished to visit, insisted she take his coat when he noticed her shiver slightly and secured her favourite table at the Three Broomsticks even though he'd wanted to go to the overly perfumed tea rooms of Madame Puddifoot. As he plied her with an endless stream of butterbeers and Rosmerta's raging fire, they'd discussed her upcoming quidditch match against Slytherin and he'd even tried to convince her that they should set Mary up with his friend, Davey Gudgeon.

Quite aside from the fact Mary was about as straight as Dumbledore's nose, Davey was a simpleton who'd lost his eye in an attempt to fight the Whomping Willow. Really. He'd tried to fight one of the few trees on earth that could actually fight back, stone cold sober. Marlene could never do that to her friend. Especially Mary, who'd faithfully followed her all over the village and was right at that moment sitting in the pub, hardcore third-wheeling Frank and Alice's date and obviously eavesdropping if her disgusted expression was anything to go by.

Seeming to realize he was fighting a losing battle, Bertram levelled her with a hesitant smile as he said, "I know your grandmother made you come out with me today, Marlene, but it's been nice getting to know you better."

"Same here," Marlene responded honestly, because she hadn't felt like tearing her hair out once which was more than could be said for most of the dates her grand-monster coerced her into. If she hadn't received a missive earlier that morning from her brother Rory detailing how stupid it was to play along with Oleandra's games before thanking her for trying to take care of him _'even if it's completely bloody unnecessary, you interfering nutcase',_ Marlene could almost believe she was there of her own volition.

Almost being the operative word.

Running a hand through his dark hair, Bertram began. "I know the Gryffindors aren't particularly fond of me—"

"Not true!" Lily and Frank tolerated him and Marlene was beginning to discover that she didn't abhor his existence.

"Dorcas hates me."

"Don't be narcissitic. Doe's like that with everybody." Doe definitely did not like Bertram Aubrey but then again, Doe could probably count on two hands the number of people she truly liked. For all of their squabbling, Marlene felt fortunate to be counted as one of the few people the wildly intelligent nutter actually considered friend.

Aubrey laughed and took her hand. "All I meant was..."

But the door to the Three Broomsticks opened at that exact moment and the howling winds drowned out whatever Bertram had said. The wind also brought with it the bane of Marlene's existence, who was laughing with James about something until his silvery eyes found hers and Marlene forced herself to avert her gaze.

Sirius Black was neither her friend nor her enemy. At this point, they were little more than strangers who shared some memories.

"Sorry Bertram, could you repeat that?" she whispered distractedly. Marlene desperately tried to focus on whatever Bertram was saying but she could feel those achingly familiar stormy eyes trained on her. Or, more specifically, the hand holding her own.

It was completely unfair. She was on a date with a guy that wasn't half as horrible as she'd thought he'd be but all Marlene could think about was whether _he_ liked the dress Lily had convinced her to wear or if _he_ noticed that she was slowly becoming a cold and unfeeling shell of the person she used to be. Damn it all to Hades, for just that split second when she'd met his silvery eyes, Marlene had almost been able to convince herself that _he_ missed her half as much as she missed him.

 _Fool._

Marlene returned her attention to Bertram, gathering from his expectant expression that he'd asked her a question. Assuming it had something to do with relocating due to the noise and finding it difficult to breathe normally with such an antagonistic addition to the pub's already stuffy atmosphere, Marlene nodded her head.

She really shouldn't have assumed anything or really been so surprised when the guy she was on a date with took her face in his hands and kissed her enthusiastically. Nor should she have been able to predict that the thunderous slamming of the tavern door was because of Sirius Black.

Unfortunately, it seemed there was only one guy Marlene could truly predict and he'd just stormed back out into the howling winds.

As Bertram's hands slipped into her hair, Marlene heard Lily's voice in her head: ' _Once you have feelings for someone, they will always be there. They may not remain positive but the feelings don't just magically go away.'_ The witch had said this during the worst of her Snape-induced despondency but Marlene found them particularly poignant right at that moment.

"You won't regret this," Bertram whispered, pressing a series of kisses along Marlene's jaw as she stared straight ahead, completely unaffected because she already did.

* * *

Later that afternoon, the Marauders were busy trying to sloshed at the Hog's Head Inn because Aberforth had taken a sick goat to be treated by Hagrid and Mildred Fletcher only cared about keeping the Galleons rolling in, not whether those she served were strictly of age. Remus suspected that the witch was well on her way to getting a lifetime ban like her brother before her but he couldn't help but be grateful that she was around today because the booze dulled Sirius' rage. His terrible mood had returned with a ferocity that Remus hadn't seen in months, although he suspected it had more to do with whatever he'd seen in the Three Broomsticks than anything on the home front.

James was trying not to annoy him with his concern but Prongs had never been brilliant with subtly.

"Prongs, shouldn't you be out pulling Santa's sleigh instead of trying to stare me into psychobabbling my mental state?" he barked, heading over to the bar for refills.

The door opened at the opposite end of the tavern to admit a pair of heavily robed witches, shivering from the cold even through all those layers. A pair of familiar faces appeared out of all that fabric but while a sniffling Mary pulled up a chair beside Remus, Doe headed straight to the bar and stopped beside Sirius. He knocked shoulders with her, jarring the willowy young woman for a moment, before speaking with her quietly.

Remus knew it was irrational, that he shouldn't feel so overwhelmingly angry at one of his best friends. It was just Padfoot being playful. It wasn't sexual, it hadn't really hurt her and it had only been the briefest physical contact but as Sirius and Doe returned with their drinks, Remus was honestly considering trying to stab Sirius Black with a straw.

The lunar eclipse was really wreaking havoc on his emotional state. At least, Remus hoped it was the eclipse because it was pathetic how delighted he felt when Doe offered him a small smile.

"What are you lot doing in here?" Pete slurred, his tolerance nearly nonexistent. "I thought you were supposed to be supervising Marlene?"

"Marlene's head-ached her way out of the rest of her date with the twerp, Alice is off with Frank and Lily's been buried in Tomes and Scrolls botanical section for the last half hour and probably has another solid hour left in her," Doe listed, then she shot a concerned look at Mary, "and she's sad so we're going to try and drink away our problems like muggles."

"What's got you so down in the dumps, MacDonald?" James asked, procuring Sirius' flask and offering it Mary, who promptly drained the whole thing which garnered a respectful "Rock on!" from Sirius.

"Women!"

"Women?" Pete queried, confused.

" _All_ of the women." Mary declared, slinging back her shot of firewhiskey and then Doe's. "Well not Doe, because she's getting me drunk and not Lily or Alice or Marls either but the rest of them? Screw 'em."

To his credit, James didn't sound even remotely surprised—though he was, Remus could tell—or judgemental as he said: "So it's only one woman and you have feelings for her?"

"Of course it's only one woman and she's amazing but it took me too long to figure out that I wanted her for more than the occasional snog and then she tells me I'm not ready for a relationship, so she's on a date with someone else! JUST BECAUSE I DON'T OWN A CARDIGAN DOESN'T MEAN I CAN'T COMMIT!" Mary wailed loudly, startling the six big, burly men who smelt suspiciously like trolls at the next table over. Her big, blue eyes focused on James. "How do you do it? How do you deal with watching her date other people? Because right now, I want to kill something and eat ten banoffee pies all at the same time!"

James was quiet for a long time. Finally, he said. "Mare, our situations are fundamentally different. She obviously wanted you enough to snog you so just lay it out for her and if she's truly the amazing person you think she is, she'll be worth all of the pain and frustration you're feeling right now. If she still doesn't go for it, you'll get through it."

Mary launched herself across Remus to hug James and he quickly lifted and switched spots with her. As James continued to console Mary, who was now crying into his butterbeer, and Sirius pointed out that cardigans were by no means punk rock enough to be considered fashionable anyway, Doe leaned in to whisper in his ear. "She's going to be mortified about this tomorrow."

"We've all been there, Doe, and we're in no place to judge her anyway," he murmured, riffling through his pockets until he found some of the chocolate he'd picked up at Honeydukes earlier on. Remus split a bar in half and gave the bigger bit to Mary, who gifted him with a watery smile, then turned to find a soft look in Doe's eyes that did weird things to his heart rate

"So what've you been up to today?" he asked, smiling stupidly in return. "Aside from dealing with the drama, of course."

"I owled my father, bought a book on spontaneous Apartation decapitations and watched Aubrey maul my friend," Doe replied succinctly but with a definite grimace on that last one.

Deciding to go with the safest avenue open to him, Remus inquired: "How is your father?"

Rupert Meadowes was the only wizard Remus knew of who could rival Alastor Moody's standing in the Auror Office. Despite their professional competitiveness, Moody had been named Doe's godfather and was a solid family friend. Remus couldn't exactly imagine either of the gruff dark wizard hunters as anything resembling nurturing but Doe's face lit up with every letter she received from either of them.

She frowned slightly. "He's on a mission this month with Moody, all very hush hush, but if he doesn't receive weekly updates on my life, he'll convince himself that the castle's fallen prey to Death Eaters. I hate disrupting him when he's on assignment but not so much that I'd risk him and his friends charging in to the Great Hall during breakfast time to 'save us all' again."

Remus seemed to vaguely recall something similar to what she described occurring during their first year, only the rough and tumble wizarding warriors had quickly realized nothing was truly amiss but stuck around to have lunch and dinner with a tiny Doe all the same. "Well, you can't say he doesn't care."

"He definitely cares but Moody feeds his paranoia. I swear, those two make each other more mental with every mission."

Remus nodded, not quite sure he should really be commenting on anyone else's mental state when his own was in such disarray and tuned in to the advice the others were trying to give Mary. Pete was advising she sleep with someone else whilst Sirius was prescribing more alcohol. James was quite vocal in his disagreement to both. "Great idea, drink or screw her away. Makes perfect sense."

"And how many times have you tried to do the exact same thing with Evans?" Sirius demanded, pushing another drink at Mary.

"Exactly my point, it just makes you feel like crap when you wake up the next day." He pushed the drink away and took Mary's hands in his. "You can't drink your pain away, Mare. It's a poison that will turn your feelings to resentment."

"Resentment can sometimes be all you have left," Sirius mumbled under his breath but both Remus and Doe heard him.

Doe poked him in the side. "That's not healthy."

Sirius nudged her back. "But it is my reality."

"Okay, enough!" Mary sniffled, accepting the handkerchief Doe summoned for her with a grateful smile. "I didn't come in here to make everyone else depressed too. I came to drink away my woes and talk to you knuckleheads. You're the Marauders, what are you planning to maraud next?"

Pete began, procuring a chocolate cauldron from his pocket. "Last year Lily said she'd date James when pigs fly, so that's probably our next order of business."

"Nah, mate, the girls staircase is always the first priority," Sirius argued, pilfering some chocolate as he said so.

The easy banter that followed was a true testament to the camaraderie between the Gryffindors because by the time Lily arrived, her arms loaded with botanical books and a slice of banoffee pie she'd discovered at Madame Puddifoot's for Mary, the whole lot of them were debating jus to how hard it does be to procure a dragon egg for Hagrid's birthday present and Mary was smiling.

* * *

The first weekend in November heralded the start of the Hogwarts quidditch season and the inevitably ruthless match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The Gryffindor team had been training twice a day every day for weeks leading up to it in order to prepare their new seeker, Evelyn Bell, for her role.

As far as Lily could tell, the fourth year's nerves kept Evie motivated which meant she was holding up better than the rest of the Gryffindor team. Potter and Marlene had been mainlining a combination of caffeine and Invigoration draughts to get them through as the pair lived and breathed quidditch strategy whenever they weren't physically out on the pitch. Sirius had been outright skipping classes whilst the Prewitt's were simply dozing off in the middle of them, all three trying desperately to catch up on some sleep. Frank had been wandering around like a zombie, the combination of quidditch practices and his Head Boy duties really taking it out of him, until Alice conned Peeves into plaguing James until he agreed to give the whole team a break.

Lily had been fleetingly impressed with her friend's ability to wrangle the chaotic spirit...that was, until she discovered Alice had brought Peeves' cooperation with dungbombs that the poltergeist used to stink out the library two days later. Her pride had swiftly shifted to irritation but Alice go to what she wanted because Potter had seen reason and relaxed the schedule for the week leading up to the big match, although he and Marlene spent the whole night beforehand obsessing as they always did.

She'd ducked down during the night to see if Marlene needed anything and discovered the pair of them had passed out before the fire, Marlene using Potter's back as a pillow. Potter's bespeckled face was buried in Mar's deserted jumper. Lily warmed at the sight of them curled up like the siblings they essentially were, but she still used her wand to summon actual pillows and blankets to make them more comfortable as well as prepare a wake up call from them both before creeping back upstairs.

As she hopped into bed, Lily tried to tell herself that it was only because of the game tomorrow that she'd summoned Potter's blanket and removed his glasses but she was pretty sure she was lying to herself as Sirius' words from Halloween were still rolling around in her brain.

The next morning, Lily woke up early and got decked out in all of her Gryffindor gear before heading down to the Great Hall, not at all surprised to find the entire Gryffindor team gathered around the table.

"I'm sorry if I've gone a bit overboard with the training schedule the last few weeks you guys," James was saying, patiently waiting for Sirius and the Prewitt twins to quit heckling him before he continued, "but I'm so proud of everything we've accomplished. Evie, you're going to do great today. Everyone, eat up. We'll head down to the pitch once you're all ready."

Lily sat down between Marlene and Gideon, receiving a kiss on the cheek from Mar and a sleepy grin from Gid. "You're not usually this happy to see me in the morning," Lily murmured as Marlene poured her some tea.

"After all this time, you think I can't tell when you're taking care of me? Pillows, blankets and who else would dare to use your satanic cat as an alarm clock? Also, for a non-coffee drinker, you make the best coffee in all of Hogwarts and it was all ready for me when I woke up this morning." Marlene hugged her. "You're a sweetheart. Thank you."

"Yeah, thanks for that, Evans," said Potter, real gratitude in his gaze.

"Don't mention it," she insisted, serving herself up some pancakes and deciding to ignore how heated her face had become. Lily Evans did not like James Potter and she'd be best to remember that...although the myriad of reasons for her hatred became a little hazy when he looked at her like that.

"Boys!"

Sirius and James' heads whipped around and they scrambled out of their seats so fast Lily couldn't help but be fascinated by the vaguely familiar witch and wizard making their way towards them. The witch was small in stature, with silver in her long golden hair and very familiar hazel eyes while her husband was tall and lanky with wild black hair just like his son's.

Sirius fell back, allowing James to reach his parents first and hug them close. Seconds later, Sirius greeted the couple with his usual exuberance. "MIA!" he shouted, lifting the older woman off the floor with the sheer power of his hug, followed up with a bellow of "MONTY!" before trying—and failing—to do the same to the older version of James. "We thought you weren't going to make it!"

"We've been to every one of your games, boys, and that man will not break our tradition now," James' mother murmured, brushing Sirius' inky hair out of his eyes.

"Besides, Minchum has become a bit of a bore of late so we'd much rather spend our time with the two of you."

Surely, they couldn't mean Harold 'Hard Arse' Minchum, the Minister for Magic. Lily didn't have a chance to find out however because Marlene was trying to clamber over the table to reach the Potter's and posed a very real danger to herself as well as Lily and Gideon's breakfasts. She flicked her wand and sent the food platters and steaming hot beverages out of the path of the overly excitable blonde.

"I'VE MISSED YOU TWO!"

"We've missed you too, Marley Barley," Monty Potter said, ruffling Marlene's hair as he hugged her.

"Next time our boys annoy you, come over anyway, darling heart. You don't have to talk to them, we can eat cake and discuss the negative side effects of testosterone on the male brain."

"OI!" All three of the dark-haired men pretended to look affronted.

"You got it, Mia." Just seeming to notice that the table had been rearranged to clear a path just for her, Marlene climbed back over the table and took her seat across from the Potter's. "Now, you two know Frank obviously but allow me to introduce the rest of this lot. We've got Gideon and Fabian Prewitt, Molly's kid brothers, and Evie Bell, our new seeker. Oh, and of course, this is Lily Evans. Everyone, this is Fleamont and Euphemia Potter."

Lily gaped and shook her head a couple of times, not entirely sure that she'd heard Marlene correctly. Fleamont Potter was a pioneer in potion development, creator of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and apparently, James bloody Potter's progenitor. How had she never known this? She'd heard of quite a few influential Potter's during her time at Hogwarts and Marlene always referred to Potter's father as Monty. How could she be so oblivious? How could Potter be so bloody indifferent to Potions? Why did both of the Potter men sport birds nest like hair when one of them had created the Sleekeazy solution?

A swift kick under the table from Marlene and Lily shook off her reverie to find that not only was one of the brightest minds in her chosen field sitting across from her at breakfast, but he was watching her expectantly.

"Monty was just saying he's heard a lot about you," Marlene whispered, her eyes sparkling with mischief as she watched her best friend, who she knew full well was ready to have a meltdown of epic and nerdy proportions.

The tips of Potter's ears went pink when her eyes snapped to his but his father quickly added, "From Horace Slughorn. He says you're a dab hand at potions."

"I try my best, sir."

"Don't sell yourself short, petal. Lily's sobering solutions are better than anything currently available on the market, Monty."

"Are you hoping to get into potion brewing then?"

"The St. Mungo's program, if I can get in."

Fleamont freaking Potter let out a low whistle. "Trying but rewarding work. I did two years there when I was just starting out and it will definitely hone your skills. Prunella Smethwyck is in charge of the program there and she was a prodigy back in the day but the woman's a true force of nature now. Never much for by the book thinking though, think you could handle that?"

Lily nodded woodenly and went back to gaping as Fleamont Potter went on to casually explain intricate and invaluable information about potioneering within the Healing stratosphere.

"…oh, and when you go for your interview, don't shake hands. That lot are weird about hands ever since Syrus Thwink had been mucking about with some belladonna and put a perspective employee into a coma with a handshake although why he was using belladonna in a—"

"The poor lad was revived, by the way, and Monty, darling, you're obsessing." Mia Potter winked at Lily. "You've just about made my husband's day, Lily, as he very rarely talks about potions at home."

"Why not?" she asked, genuinely perplexed.

"I've always been more likely to set the house on fire than brew anything correctly and so my interest dwindles with every new piece of research about the phases of the moon effecting the potions consistency or potency or longevity or whatever else they come out with next, you see? I'm much more interested in people." Mia Potter levelled her with an impish look she had evidently passed down to her son. "So, Lily Evans, tell me about yourself."

The following inquisition, combined with Marlene's knowing looks, gave Lily the distinct impression that she was being screened as a perspective daughter-in-law but she didn't mind. The Potters were good people.

It wasn't their fault their son was a twat.


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER: Mature language/themes and I'm obviously no J K Rowling…this is just my attempt to tell the Marauders story. This is also my first fanfiction so please be patient with me and I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible**

 **CHAPTER SEVEN**

James reckoned it said a lot about his housemates that they could celebrate a loss of this scale almost as well as a victory.

Granted, drinking was to be expected for the older students but the dancing and incredible red and gold banner created by some of the first years which proudly proclaimed _'WE LOST SPECTACTULARLY!'_ —courtesy of Alice's thoughtful editing—were a total surprise. Then there was the food. Lily and Mary had teamed up with Remus to replace the usual party snacks with hearty comfort foods ranging from pies and pasties to sticky toffee pudding and every type of cake the house elves had been able to come out with.

The fact that they'd managed to pull it all together in the time it took the adorable Poppy Pomfrey to mend all of the busted bones in James' arm was wonderful…especially given how crappy the day had turned out to be.

The match had begun with a light drizzle which graduated to a surprise hailstorm ten minutes in and although both teams were unprepared, the Slytherin team made up for it in sheer brutality. Marlene had a blackeye courtesy of Evan Rosier and his beater's bat while both James and Fabian had been carted off pitch when the burly Adelaide Bulstrode had slammed into them so many times that they'd fallen from their brooms. Although the reserves were willing and ready to take their places, Frank had been distracted what with James bloody and Fabian unconscious so the Slytherin's had stockpiled points; meaning that when Evie Bell beat Regulus Black to the snitch nearly half an hour later, Slytherin had still won the game.

Of course, it didn't help that Sirius and Gideon had been repeatedly fouled for 'accidentally' pelting bludgers at the substitute commentator, Horace Slughorn, for not owning the fact that the Slytherin team had turned the match into a bloodbath.

Going from Edgar Bones dulcet tones to Slughorn's Slytherin-centric views was a massive step backwards and hopefully, some good would come out of the bludger pelting in the form of a new quidditch commentator.

This was the first game that James had lost since becoming captain and he was trying to ignore the crushing sense of despondency that had been rolling around his head all night. The mysterious contents of Sirius' flask helped with that, as did hanging with his mates and watching Padfoot continue to tease Pete about Patrice.

"Just ask her out already!"

"Sirius, I swear I don't even like her that much!"

"Sure, and you also watch muggle porn for the plotlines."

The tips of Pete's ears went pink. "OI!"

Mary quirked an eyebrow at Sirius, patted Pete on the back then rushed in with a swift redirect. "And you watch muggle porn because…?"

Sirius' smirked. "It upsets my mother?"

Although Sirius' décor choices at Grimmauld Place definitely backed up his argument, James couldn't help but roll his eyes and finally realized that someone had dared to breach his fortress of solitude also known as the overstuffed couch furthest away from their partying peers. "Alright, Rory?"

Aurora Sinistra was a seventh year Gryffindor, Astronomy extraordinaire and stone-cold knockout. She gave him a coy smile, her dark eyes playful. "From the disastrous day you've had, I'm guessing you could use some Felix Felicius but would settle for getting lucky instead?"

James stared at her, shell-shocked and sputtering unintelligible sounds. "You can't be serious!"

"Don't tell me you'd confuse me for that twat," Rory said indignantly, gesturing to where Sirius was trying to burp the alphabet to prove some sort of point to a disgusted Mary.

"Jo would murder you!" Not only would Josephine Shacklebolt murder Rory, one of her best friends, but then she'd come for James too. He shuddered at the very thought of what sort of wrath Jo would unleash on them both. "Isn't there some sort of code about dating your friends' exes?" _Because there bloody well should be._

"Although I wouldn't call what you and Jo had a relationship, I checked with her and she wished me luck, Potter," Rory murmured, swinging one of her long legs over his own and giggling which was so unlike her that James could only assume she was smashed. "You're smart and you're handsome so, what do you say? Want to go find a broom closet?"

Growing up next to Sirius had kept James grounded about his looks. He was scrawny with knobbly knees and hair that would probably never sit right without some serious spellwork and a whole lot of Sleakeazy's. The fact that Rory seemed to be willing to overlook these flaws flattered him but flattery wasn't going to cut it in this instance. "Uh...no, thank you?"

Rory quickly removed her leg.

"I swear, it's not you," James quickly added.

"Oh, I know it isn't me." Rory glanced over to where Lily and Alice were doing some hysterically dorky go go dancing until Lily was jostled and went crashing to the floor. Her cheeks flaming as red as her hair, Lily pushed herself to her feet with her eyes averted, most likely expecting to find an avid audience to her clumsiness. There probably would've been too…if Marlene hadn't chosen that exact moment to enter into a screaming match with Meghna Patil, who had very publicly and callously dumped her brother Adam the day before.

James grinned because Marlene could always be counted on to cause a timely diversion.

He only wished she'd come save him.

"I'm sorry, Rory, I just—"

"You're a sweet boy, James Potter," Rory kissed his cheek and pushed his hair out of her eyes, "and one day, Lily Evans won't be able to ignore the great man you're turning out to be." She assessed those remaining in the corridor then hopped up with a wink. "Now if you'll excuse me, Adam McKinnon looks mighty sad and I'm sure he could do with someone to cheer him up."

As she sauntered off, Sirius stumbled over and fell into Rory's recently vacated spot on the sofa with a glare. "And what exactly was wrong with that one?"

"Nothing. Rory's exquisite but she's just not Lily."

Sirius was quiet for a long time following that particular pronouncement and James didn't need to peek into his mind to figure out what was going on in Sirius' head. Although Sirius had always and would always back him in any endeavour, he wasn't sold on Lily and James could almost see the cogs of concern and condemnation turning over in Padfoot's head. Thing was, Sirius' sporadic bouts of 'dislike' for Lily hinged entirely upon her supposed 'mistreatment' of James and if James weren't in the picture, he was pretty sure the pair of them would be mates.

Unlike Sirius, James had no illusions concerning his past dealings with Lily or the fact that the he'd deserved the vast majority of her tirades.

"I know that you don't always get it, man, and you're probably sick of hearing about her by now but I've done everything I possibly could to get over Lily. I even tried to replace her, remember, and almost screwed up my entire friendship with Jo because of it." Although Jo had had her own reasons for trying to make more of their friendship, James still couldn't forgive himself for risking their friendship. "So maybe just _try_ to be more accepting of her, alright? Please."

Sirius took a sip from his flask, utterly expressionless.

"It's not hard to like Lily," James wheedled. "You're always hearing me bang on about how brilliant she is."

A small grin. James could work with that.

* * *

Through her mead-induced haze, Doe had been counting cards so she knew Sirius Black had been cheating for the last three rounds. Pete was too busy being impressed by Sirius' 'skill' while Alice was too busy flirting with Frank to notice.

Watching Sirius win over and over got tedious after a while though, so Doe folded before going in search of some distraction. Evie Bell and Patrick Daily were teaching some of the younger students the finer points of Gobstones whilst Adam—having evidently recovered from his maudlin mood—was drunkenly lecturing Marlene because he'd caught her and Fabian heading for a broom closet.

"Any more boys and I'm packing your arse off to a convent!"

Marlene rolled her eyes and wandered out of the common room, her middle finger raised high in the air like a salute, while Aurora Sinistra talked Adam out of going after her or enquiring about high-security monasteries like there were such a thing.

Doe honestly couldn't understand how Marlene handled having so many siblings and dealt with all their drama without seriously maiming any of them. If she'd had even one of Marlene's overprotective brothers or clothes-stealing sisters, she'd have had them handled by now. Nothing too nefarious. They'd live…they'd just mysteriously wake up in the wilds of Greenland every time they got on her nerves.

A pair of arms wrapped around her waist and she would've headbutted the culprit if she hadn't recognized Mary's perfume. "Are you smashed?" Mary whispered in her ear.

"Pleasantly buzzed. You?"

"Irritable."

"The cardigan thing again?" Doe had already ascertained that the offending cardigan wearer was Phillipa Clearwater, a pretty Ravenclaw and the only Hogwarts student who celebrated cardigans as much as Mary had been condemning them lately. Phillipa also seemed to be spending an inordinate amount of time with Hestia Jones of late.

"No, although I still think making a bonfire to the fashion gods is a solid plan." Mary sighed. "I need to talk to you actually. I've screwed up my last two Charms papers and Flitwick says if I get any further behind, he might have to reassess my place in his N.E.W.T. class."

Doe patted her hand. "You are best friends with tso of the highest achieving members of the Charms Club, dingbat. Just come work on your next few scrolls in the library with Lily and I and we'll have you all caught up in no time."

Mary let out an actual squeal and nearly strangled Doe in gratitude. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Tugging Mary's arm away from her throat to stave off the possibility of strangulation, Doe turned around but got a little distracted when she spotted Remus at the bottom of the boy's staircase, oddly enamoured with a ratty piece of paper. He looked tired but handsome in the snug cable knit jumper Lily had knitted for him last year for Christmas but his scowl ruined it.

She didn't like to see him so frustrated.

"You like him," Mary accused, utterly delighted.

"Sheer speculation." She might have some Lupin leanings.

"Uh huh." Mary didn't sound even remotely convinced as she started to shuffle away, wiggling her eyebrows at Doe. "Ooooo, look at that! Alice is by herself, I have to go see her before she and Frank start snogging again. You should go talk Remus cause he looks awful lonely."

The tiny witch fled, almost tackling Alice in her haste, but Doe headed over to see Remus nevertheless. He didn't notice her straight away so she made an unsuccessful swipe for the overly interesting old parchment.

Remus scoffed at her attempt. "You're going to have to do a lot better than that, Meadowes. I grew up with James _and_ Sirius."

After another couple of unsuccessful attempts, that smirk on Remus' face aggravated her enough that Doe paused and considered what her friends would do in this situation. Lily would use her words, Alice would offer assistance, Mary would employ her wiles and Marley... Doe lifted her shirt, thanking Agrippa that she'd bothered to wear a bra at all. She would later blame it on the booze but with Remus sufficiently distracted by the black lacy thing Marlene had talked her into buying, Doe was victorious in seizing the…blank parchment? Casting a lightning fast Impediment jinx to slow him down, she whispered _"Sermo Revelio"_ with a tap of her wand but the scrawled words that appeared on the smooth surface did nothing to explain his earlier frustration.

 _'Mr Padfoot would like to compliment Dorky on her clothing choices but seriously wonders if he is ever going to be able to talk her out of them?'_

Doe was caught between confusion and chuckling at the perverted expression that would inevitably appear on Sirius' face if he actually voiced the predictable come on but the parchment did not stop there.

 _'Mr Prongs sincerely hopes that Miss Meadowes ignores Mr Padfoot crudeness and wonders how heaven was when she left it.'_

She bit her lip, fighting outright laughter now.

 _'Mr Wormtail presents his compliments and asks if Miss Meadowes is made of treacle, cause she'd sure be sweet all over him.'_

Predictably food-related but more original than the other two combined.

 _'Mr Moony would appreciate it if Miss Meadowes would ignore his cockamamie comrades and wonders what a nice girl is doing with parchment such as this?'_

Lifting eyes that had watered with laughter, Doe met Remus' grey green ones and frowned. "You think I'm nice?"

"Not when you steal from me," he countered, the grin on his face signalling that he wasn't truly angry.

"I'm not a nice girl, Remus," she whispered truthfully, "and I'm not entirely sure I'm a good one either."

He lent forward, making a swift but futile play for the parchment. "I'm more than willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."

"Rather sporting of you." Doe shifted it behind her back. "Whatever compelled you lot to purchase parchment that flirts with people?"

A small silence. "Perhaps you just have a strange effect on stationary."

Doe glared at him.

Remus sighed. "Is there any chance you'll leave this al—?"

"No chance."

"That's what I thought." With a long-suffering glance at the ceiling, as if he were hoping it would magically open up and save him, he finally said. "I need you to swear you won't say anything to anyone."

Doe presented the parchment, but kept it firmly in her grasp as she nodded solemnly. "I swear."

"Then _I_ solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he announced with a tap of his wand.

"You are such a d—" But her teasing pretty much died when more ink swirled around the parchment and more words appeared:

 _'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

 _Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

 _are proud to present_

 _THE MARAUDER'S MAP'_

A map rapidly materialized with tiny, individually named footprints moving all around to different parts of Hogwarts castle. She found the Entrance Hall first then followed it around until she reached the Gryffindor Tower and lifted a small flap which had just materialized to reveal where the two of them stood, their footprints so close together. Doe glanced up to find him looking at her strangely but her curiosity about the map overrode every other question she could possibly ask at that moment. "Where did you get this?"

Remus cleared his throat. "We made it."

"You _made_ it?"

He nodded warily.

"You made _this_? I-it—" She could almost feel her brain malfunctioning as it tried to catalogue the myriad of magic which would be required to catalogue the identity and position of every single witch, wizard, ghost and creature within Hogwarts. "How?"

"As far as determination and skill goes, James is incorrigible but Sirius' downright impossible. Pete pulled on his endless patience to draw out the castle and grounds while I like to research obscure magical theory in my down time," he rushed to explain.

Grinning, she grabbed his arm and hauled him back onto the steps he'd been sitting on before she'd interrupted his peace and quiet then bombarded the startled young man with questions. "I can see you've used a Homonculous Charm but how much maintenance does it require? And what spell did you use to keep up with the moving walls, doors and stairs? How come I've never seen half of these passageways? Oh, and..."

* * *

Alice had been putting a lot of consideration into the mind mucking lessons she intended to take the Marauders up on. Only she'd spent the entire week assessing the mental state of each of her dearest friends and found that each one of them came with their own particular brand of complications.

Lily's mind would be a whirlwind of neurosis, self-doubt, righteous outrage and useless facts.

Although Marlene had always been the most open of all of them, she had become quite closed off and erratic in the last few months. If Alice were to guess, Marlene's mind would most likely contain a wild storm of self-hatred and whip quick but essentially anarchic decisions.

Doe was trickier still because she was not only a singularly talented witch but also an incredibly paranoid one, who was convinced that she was on some sort of Ministry watch-list and as such, would never allow anyone, not even a friend, into the secret sanctum of her mind.

As such, Mary was the obvious and only real choice to be Alice's partner. A sweetheart through and through, Mary rarely said anything that didn't pop into her head anyway and the deepest, darkest secret the young witch currently held were her topsy, turvy feelings concerning Hess—something that all of her nearest and dearest knew all about anyway.

Plus, Mary _had_ tackled her in a ploy to give Remus some time with Doe so really, it was serendipity.

After a very in-depth analysis of the assembled comfort foods, the two of them shared their treats in one of the overstuffed armchairs that littered the Gryffindor common room while Alice tried to figure out how to phrase her appeal. She'd thought about being subtle but decided that she was shit at it so she may as well skip it. "I need to ask you something."

Mary glanced up from her cake, sensing the gravitas. "Name it, sweetheart."

"So, James offered to help me with those Occlumency exercises I've been doing but that means going in and out of each other's minds but I don't really want to know what those knuckleheads are thinking so—"

"So, you need a partner?"

Alice nodded. "Someone who I can trust with my secrets and who's willing to trust me with theirs. I know it's a lot of work and even more to ask but—"

"But nothing. We'll smash this Occlumency thing. When do we start?"

Relieved, Alice grinned. "Are you sure?"

"Anything for you, Fortescue." Mary returned with a wink. "I mean, I'll probably get a cavity from all your thoughts about Frank but it'd be a hell of a lot saner than James Potter's mind I'm sure. That sounds like landmine of mischief and mayhem and Lily fantasies."

Laughing, Alice met Frank's eyes across the room, where he was talking to the overly excitable Kingsley Shacklebolt and the Fawley twins although she couldn't tell who was who from her current angle. Frank grinned and winked at her then returned his full attention to the second years.

"You're across the room from each other and you're still making me nauseous," Mary muttered, sounding utterly disgusted. "Keep this up and I'm _going_ to eat your pudding."

Without taking her eyes off Frank, Alice seized a pillow and tossed it at Mary's face—but not before safeguarding their food.

* * *

It was two o'clock in the morning and although she'd much rather be curled up in bed, Lily was out searching for Mary and Marlene instead. Mary had dived out of the portrait hole when she realized the pillow fight she'd been having with Alice had graduated to full blown Gryffindor pillow warfare while Marlene had pulled her disappearing act after an argument with her brother so now Lily was wandering the corridors trying to find them.

She'd searched the abandoned classrooms and the kitchens before finally ambling up the winding stairs to the Astronomy Tower—the most coveted makeout spot for the students of Hogwarts as well as Marlene's favourite place in the whole castle. Lily couldn't count how many times she'd found Marlene star-gazing after a big night so when she finally reached the deserted Astronomy room, Lily had expected to find a passed out Marley and was therefore shocked to find a dishevelled Sirius Black blowing smoke rings over the precarious tower's edge.

"You're going to get in trouble if you keep that up."

Sirius rolled his distinctive grey eyes. "Evans, please. Old Voldy managed to graduate so it'll take a lot more than smoking after curfew to get into true trouble here."

"True enough." Lily paused in the doorway. She felt rude just leaving him like this but it was Sirius and she could never really tell if she was welcome. Besides, she had crazy ladies to hunt down. "Okay then I guess I'll just keep looking for—"

"Why do you hate James?"

The words were quiet, so quiet she could almost pretend she hadn't heard them and keep a lid on that particular can of worms but before Lily could even decided if it was worth it, Sirius added. "Don't leave. Answer me."

Lily arched an eyebrow at his tone. "Why should I do that?"

"You probably shouldn't. In fact, you definitely shouldn't. I can't be trusted and I don't have good intentions for this conversation."

Taking a deep breath, Lily stalked over and sat cross-legged on Professor Ptolemy's desk.

"Why are you sitting all the way over there?"

"Because shoving you off the Astronomy Tower in irritation might land me in Azkaban?"

She could see the smallest glimmer of amusement in his silver eyes before he ordered. "Answer the question."

"I don't actually hate James Potter," Lily murmured, "but there are certainly things I don't like about him. I don't like the way that he treated Sev. I don't like that people are so willing to overlook his arrogance and conceit because he's smart, pretty and captain of the bloody quidditch team. But most of all, I don't like that someone with so much potential spends the vast majority of his time wandering around being a conceited cockhead!"

"That conceited cockhead is the only person who has never once treated me like an embarrassment or as a way to rebel against his parents! He is my brother. I don't know how much you know about my birth family, Evans, but trust me when I say that my mother makes my cousin Bellatrix look sweet and sane. This is a woman who considers the Cruciatus Curse a form of discipline and my place in Gryffindor as a personal slight. It screws with your mind having that much hatred at home and if James weren't around, I'd probably be a bigger menace than all the baby Deatheaters combined." He levelled her with a deadened look. "So, for a moment, try to understand what it's like to watch one of the few truly good people in your life be torn down again and again by the one person whose approval he wants more than anyone else's. Imagine watching this person doubt their worth based on the rantings of some barmy bird who can't or won't look past all the bullshit to the amazing dork underneath."

She'd heard a lot of defences for James Potter over the years, but this one hit home in a whole new way, most likely due to the source. Still… "My words cannot possibly mean that much to him."

"He's halfway in love with you, Evans. Tell yourself he's trying to embarrass you as much as you like but why in Merlin's name would anyone write such horrifically bad poetry for someone they weren't even interested in? Why would he ask you out thirty-eight times when your rejections only seem to get more and more hateful? Huh?" More smoke. "I'm telling you right now that no other guy in his right mind would keep trying but Prongs does because he seems to think you're worth it!" Sirius looked away suddenly. "But then, he seems to think that I'm worth it too so maybe he's just defective when it comes to choosing people."

Mind whirling, Lily focused on the haunted look in Sirius' eyes and decided to process their conversation properly later. She hopped off the desk, stalked over and grabbed Black by the sides of his big boofhead. "Uh uh, no self-pity for you! I don't believe you're as dark and irredeemable as you seem to think, Sirius Black, because you believe that and I don't trust your judgement."

This pronouncement provoked an awkward attempt at a hug on her part but Sirius remained rigid. Just when she was about to back away, apologizing, his arms slowly wrapped around her and Lily could feel her ambivalence towards this broken boy fading, replaced with a fledgling friendship.

"Now let's head back to common room and hope that the girls have found their way back, alright?"

She and Sirius headed back towards Gryffindor Tower in companionable silence until Sirius suddenly whispered, "Do you believe in love?"

Although startled and wondering just how much he'd had to drink, Lily answered honestly. "Yes."

"Have you ever been in love?"

"Definitely not."

"Then how do you know it's anything more than a neurochemical conjob? I mean, you've dated. Granted, only those Prongs and Snivelly couldn't scare off first, but there were a couple of reasonable ones in there."

"I did love them but not the way they were meant to be loved, you know? They were fun and sweet but we were only ever meant to be friends and they got that too because I've managed to keep both Caradoc and Benjy as friends. Besides, I have enough trouble keeping my cat alive so I don't think I'm really ready to factor caring for another person in my life just yet."

Sirius seemed to be lost in his own head which Lily was quickly beginning to realize was a dark and dangerous place to be. "I was once, I think," he murmured. "It was the best and worst thing that ever happened to me."

His stark honesty surprised Lily and spurred on some of her own. "After everything that went down with Sev last year, I don't really know how I'm going to trust someone like that again or why anyone would want to get that close." She snorted inelegantly. "You know what they say, you can't love someone else unless you love yourself first."

"Bollocks!" Sirius barked.

"Excuse me?"

"Contrary to popular belief, I have never loved myself. But I love Moony, Wormtail and Prongs so much that I sometimes forget to hate myself!" Sirius murmured. There was a groan just down the corridor and Sirius groaned slightly. "Speaking of…"

James Potter lay in the middle of the corridor, balancing a bottle of firewhiskey on his forehead.

Lily knew it was a bad idea, but she couldn't stop herself. At least, she couldn't stop her body although her brain tried awful hard. She told herself to stop walking, to stay away from him, especially given what Sirius had disclosed earlier on but Lily's legs completely ignored her mind, walking to tower over the horizontal Gryffindor quidditch captain. "James Potter, what the devil do you think you're doing?"

"Brooding."

"You're sulking."

"No, he's definitely brooding. It's much more manly and a whole lot less infantile," Sirius confided with a wink as he lay down beside his best friend. "You started thinking about it, didn't you?"

James nodded miserably.

"What have we said about thinking, Prongs?"

"It's Moony's area of expertise?"

"And?"

"It's bad for our health?"

"Exactly!" Sirius appropriated the firewhiskey bottle and took a swig. "You need to focus on pranking, taking care of Moony and training so we kick arse next time around, not get side tracked because you got beat up by a bird."

"That 'bird' sidelined both Fab and I." James frowned. "I'm not entirely sure she's actually human."

Sirius snorted. "Of course she isn't human, she's a Bulstrode, but you drinking your woes away in the hallway will only lead to detention or alcoholism which are both wastes of precious time."

James let out another groan and Sirius kept on drinking like a total hypocrite.

Deciding that Sirius' tactic could very well land them all in detention if Filch got a hold of them, Lily nudged the miserable drunk with her foot. "C'mon, Potter, I'll help you back to the co—"

But before she could finish, James had wrapped his arms around her waist, rested his cheek against her stomach and he held her. Lily had no clue how to deal with this situation because she'd never had anyone hold her like this and it didn't help that it felt kind of nice.

"I'm a failure, Evans," he informed her tummy. "I'm the captain and I screwed it all up first game of the season. Everyone should hate me."

"No one hates you and it was only the first match of the year. The team can come back from it."

Devastated hazel eyes met her own. "But what if I lead them into another colossal failure, Evans? We'd be out of the running for the cup and I'll have failed everyone because I can't make the right decisions. I overworked my team because Ravenclaw were so close to beating us last year and exhausted everyone. Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a captain anymore, you know, maybe I should just resign."

Lily was surprised to learn that a self-deprecating James Potter pissed her off more than the arrogant and annoying James Potter. "James, you were not the only person up in the air today but while every single Slytherin was determined to cause injury to every Gryffindor up there, _your_ team kept going." She pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Your team is partying right now, they're celebrating their loss. How many teams do you know that would do that? They're a strong bunch and they're honourable enough not to beat on the people trying to maim them mid-air. Now stop beating yourself up and start thinking of all the ways you can kick arse against Hufflepuff because I'm finally invested in this quidditch business so you can not let me down now, Potter."

"Alright," James murmured, ducking his head to hide the small grin on his face before allowing her to haul him to his feet. As they headed back towards the common room, Lily finally realized that neither Sirius nor the firewhiskey were present and quirked an eyebrow at James in silent question.

He shrugged. "He probably figured you had it covered."

Of course, he did. _Git_. "Did you get to see your parents before they left?"

"Briefly," James murmured, grinning, "and only after my mother argued her way past Pomfrey; although Poppy was almost as enamoured by my Dad as you were."

"Your father is an extraordinary potioneer, Potter," Lily maintained as she entered through the portrait hole. "And he and your mother should be up for sainthoods raising you!"

"What have you two been up to?" Marley demanded from a couch in front of the fire, something that looked suspiciously like seaweed caught in her golden curls. The pair of them plonked down on either side of their friend.

"Found him lying in a corridor," Lily said with a shrug while James pouted. "Lily has the hots for my dad."

Marlene looked at them like they were both insane. "Alrighty then…wanna hear about my night?"

"Did you slay a dragon?" James asked, snuggling in close to her side.

"No, but I did fight some Grindylows."

"What is it with you and that bloody lake?" Lily demanded, because it was winter in Scotland and the mad cow was fighting Grindylows.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you to the beautiful people who've helped me fix my many muck ups and thank you so much to the everyone whose continued to give me feedback :)**

 **CHAPTER EIGHT**

Lily woke up in her own bed the next morning but not alone. Thankfully, the dark head on the pillow beside her belonged to Mary.

She couldn't really remember what had happened after she'd dozed off with her head in Marlene's lap, listening to her many misadventures of the evening as Mar played with her hair...but Lily was pretty sure she'd gone to bed alone. Noticing that Mary was scratching Oren behind the ear and was therefore awake even if she was keeping her eyes closed, Lily whispered, "You have a bed of your own, you know."

Mary snuggled closer. "Yours is warmer."

Lily patted the purring Oren and waited Mary out. It was generally safest to wait her friends out. If she didn't, she could wind up cold-shouldered, hexed or concussed. Lily would like to pretend none of those things had ever happened but the five of them had been rooming together for years. They knew all of each other's patterns because they'd been through all of their teenage angst, grief and heartbreak together and waking up with company was nothing new.

"I talked to Hess last night," Mary finally whispered.

 _Oh Merlin._ "How'd that go?"

"May have drunkenly professed my love for her and somehow ended up agreeing to be _friends_ instead." Mary made 'friends' sound like the single most disgusting word in the English language.

Ironic though, because Mary had insisted she and Hess were 'just friends' all the time Hess had been head over heels for the stubborn witch. "Friends isn't the end of the world, Mare."

Mary groaned into Lily's stolen pillow. "It is when I can't be in the same room with Phillipa without wanting to do something stupid like cry…or jinx her."

"You're better than that," Lily sighed, hopping out of bed and heading for her trunk.

"No, I'm not," Mary sighed as she rolled over, "but you're determined to believe that and I know better than to piss you off."

"Which makes you smarter than most," Marlene grumbled as she staggered in from her morning run, mud splattered and miserable as she fell face first onto her own four-poster bed.

The woman was insane. Not only did Marlene insist on running every morning around the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest—far enough away to keep herself out of detention but close enough that it was still a concern—but she did it in December. In negative three-degree weather. Putting the insanity aside for a moment, Lily opened her mouth to say something but Marlene must've been able to sense it because she growled into her pillow. " _Don't_ speak, petal."

"I didn't—"

"You were going to."

Lily acquiesced. "Alright but you're going to regret sleeping in all that mud later."

"I'll deal with that _after_ my nap. Now hush."

"But—"

"NAP!"

A pillow hit Lily square in the face and she decided it might be in her best interest to shut up and vacate the dormitory because someone was _cranky_. She could go see Remus and discuss the full moon clash on the current prefect roster but she couldn't possibly leave Mary to sulk by herself.

Somehow sensing her hesitation, Alice hopped out of her own bed and into Lily's. Snuggling in with Mary and Oren, Alice grinned over at Lily. "Mary and I are going to lay around in bed for a while and listen to Lulu. You go do something else and spare us another lecture about your beloved rock'n'roll movement."

"You wouldn't need the lecture if your taste wasn't so mediocre," Lily said primly, gathering her clothes and heading for the bathroom.

* * *

There was some sort of ruckus in the stairwell with a lot of slamming doors and cursing which usually indicated Peeves, Professor McGonagall or a girl.

James had just located his glasses, planning to go investigate the commotion, when the dormitory door flew open and Lily Evans swanned in with a tower of toast and four mugs bobbing along after her. She sent a mug of what could only be tea floating over to Remus, who glared at the cup bumping into the side of his head before mumbling his thanks.

She obviously needed something from the Moon man because while he was by no means a morning person, he drank more tea than should be humanly or lycanthropically possible and those who enabled his habit usually managed to be spared from the irritability.

Lily tossed Sirius a piece of toast, which the prat caught between his teeth, while she raised an eyebrow at the mountain of dirty clothes on Pete's bed before sending drinks zooming over to Sirius' and Pete's respective beside tables.

Finally reaching the end of his bed, James' dream girl passed him a mug of coffee with a small but genuine smile. "Feeling any better?"

"Much." Blushing slightly at what he could remember of the night before, James accepted the coffee with a grin of his own because Lily freaking Evans was bringing him coffee. "Cheers for this, Lily."

"No problem," Lily called over her shoulder as she pounced on an unsuspecting Remus. Moony obviously wasn't up to dealing with her yet because he growled and swatted at Lily before tickling the redheaded menace as she shrieked with laughter.

"Why are you so cranky?" Lily demanded between bursts of laughter. "I bought you tea and everything."

Remus didn't dignify that with a response, only started tickling her again.

A black furball came bounding into the room at Lily's screeching laughter and stopped short when he saw the Marauders. Unfortunately, the little guy had next to no traction on the hardwood floors and skidded rather ungracefully under Pete's four poster bed before crashing into James' side table.

 _Poor baby._

James reached down to pick up the little guy as Lily shrieked, only this time it didn't sound quite so happy. Glancing up, he watched Lily topple off Remus' bed and curiously peek over the befuddled Remus at one of the various piles of clothing on Pete's four poster that had suddenly started to move.

Three of the four Marauders smirked and James flicked his wand, sending clothes tumbling onto the floor to reveal their rather dishevelled looking fourth. Looking around blearily, Pete's eyes focused on the tower of toast and he tackled Sirius in his hurry to get to it. Sirius let out a growl and fought back, the poor plate caught in the middle but somehow not toppling over.

"You lot need to learn how to share!" The plate promptly zoomed over to Lily, who was now sitting at the end of Remus' bed.

"We share," Sirius insisted, summoning a slice from the pile as Pete did the same. "We just don't enjoy it."

James rolled his eyes at the prat, who was currently wearing James' Wailing Warlocks t-shirt and Remus' bunny socks, and felt a searing pain in his right hand. Cursing, James frowned down at the cat and the scratch right across his palm.

"OREN!" Lily scolded, coming over to seize what Marlene had always described as the most psychotic feline on the planet.

" _This_ is Oren?" James murmured, waving Lily off as he focused on the big, jade eyes that stared up at him as he resumed his attention to the demanding cat. He heard a door slam somewhere and frowned at Marlene, who was still in her muddy running gear but standing in the doorway to his dorm. " _This_ is your arch nemesis?"

Marlene looked like she was ready to throw something at him or the cat when Pete interrupted. "Hey, isn't that the cat you used to mop up your spilt drink last night?"

"YOU WHAT?" Lily shouted, burying her nose in Oren's fur and scowling while James stood still as a statue, worried he'd scare the cute cat or the nice girl with the victory dance he had playing out in his head.

"I don't know what he's talking about," Marlene mumbled, eyes on the ground because she was very obviously lying.

Pete blustered at that. "I spent half the night explaining to the fourth years that you're not actually a homicidal cat-killer and this is the thanks I get!"

Marlene was squandering, mumbling something about snitching and maybe she liked being known as a cat-killer while avoiding the gaze of the irate redhead in front of him, so James asked, "What'd you come up here for anyway, Mar?"

"Uh...the Gryffinwhores? Rafe says they didn't come back to their dormitory last night."

Glancing at his watch, James realized it was nearly noon and the twins would probably still be passed out in the Hogwarts greenhouses or something. "Maybe wait until tonight," he advised, watching Lily wearily.

James had pissed Lily Evans off enough over the years to know when she was simmering with rage and, by the way those emerald eyes were spitting fire, Marlene was about to get it. Marlene seemed to realize this too because she blew him a kiss and abruptly tore out of the dormitory.

"Excuse me," Lily said softly, calmly following their friend out of the room.

All four of them froze, not entirely sure whether they should intervene or not when they heard the crash, screams and unmistakable laughter that followed the girls' departure.

Pete seemed somehow shocked by the laughter, which was weird because they were Gryffindors, then he nodded at the cat still purring in James' arms. "Do you think she'll notice that—"

A breathless and slightly dishevelled Lily returned before Pete could even finish his question. She scooped Oren out of James' arms and looked up at him with those incredible eyes. "Thank you for looking after Oren."

"Is Marley still breathing?" he couldn't help but ask, although there were no obvious signs of bloodshed.

Lily grinned wickedly as she nodded. "Small lesson in manners and much to her disgust, Mar's gone to get Oren's bath ready."

A fitting punishment, James thought. Although he'd never tell Marlene that.

"Rem, don't know if you've had a chance to check it out yet but our patrols are the night before the full moon and that night just doesn't work for me"—she murmured, with an obvious nod at their open door—"so I thought I'd go see Frank and switch it if that's okay?"

Remus gave her a sleepy grin and a nod before burying himself back in his blankets.

"Alrighty then, sorry for the disruptions and I'll catch you guys later." Lily was almost out the door when her head poked back around. "Oh and James, Alice said that you need to pick a time and place because she's got her pair or something. Do you understand any that?"

"Yeah, I got it. Thanks Lily," James murmured, falling back onto his bed with a delighted grin because being woken up didn't suck quite so much when Lily Evans was the one responsible for the waking.

* * *

"Most basic Occlumency exercises are bullshit," James declared the following afternoon, pacing around the Room of Requirement which he'd fashioned into a classroom of sorts only there were four thrones for the Marauders to lounge about in where the teacher's desk would usually be because, Mary decided, James Potter was a dorklord.

And she'd thought his invitation—a paper bird that honked Alice's name over and over again until it founds its laughing recipient—was the dorkiest thing she'd ever seen.

"You only say that because you can't meditate for shit," Remus murmured with a roll of his eyes.

James looked like he wanted to argue but, most likely realizing that his friend was correct, nodded before continuing. "Emptying your head is actually really difficult for the rest of us mere mortals, Moony. We, meaning everyone but Remus, found it much easier to put our inner most thoughts and feelings under lock and key."

"How do you do that?" Alice asked, her forehead stitched with confusion.

"Basically: to become an Occlumens, you need to become a Legilimens." Sirius murmured distractedly, trying to fix Pete's Charms essay because he was bored and Pete was apparently failing.

"Legilimency is easy," Pete said earnestly. "You just have to look a person in the eye to establish an optical connection and use the incantation _Legilimens_ then you're in."

Alright, so to learn how to keep the Dark Arts creeps out of her head, Mary and Alice were going to need to invade each other's heads first. Consent was key, she supposed but… "How exactly do you get them back out again?" Mary asked. "Not that I don't love you and all, Al, but I don't exactly want you taking up residence."

Alice winked. "Right back at you."

"No one will be taking up residence anywhere, that's what we're here for." Remus leaned forward in his throne. "One person goes in, the other person tries to kick them out. If you're under for more than five minutes, we'll bring you back. Do it enough times and you'll get a feel for when someone is in your mind which means you can practice kicking them out. It's different for everybody...for me, it's sort of like flicking a switch and turning off my more incriminating thoughts and feelings."

"Mine is more like slamming a door shut," James explained.

"You can also scream so loud inside your mind that they leave voluntarily."

"I just bang my head against a wall." Pete blushed. "I haven't quite got the hang of it yet."

"It takes a lot of talent to regain even that much consciousness, Wormy," James murmured, patting Pete on the back. "Everyone's mind is different, as are everyone's Occlumency strategies. Why don't you guys just give it a go? See what works and what doesn't for the two of you?"

"Okey-dokey." Ignoring the four of them entirely, Mary turned to Alice and tapped the side of her noggin with a hesitant smile. "Jump on in, sweetheart."

"Are you sure?" Alice asked for what felt like the hundredth time.

Nodding, Mary met her friend's dark brown eyes. "Let's do this."

Alice smiled at her sweetly as she whispered, " _Legilimens!_ " which caused the whole room to swim before Mary's eyes as she saw flashes of her life in a rapid stream of jumbled chaos.

Her fourth birthday, a princess party with ponies and popcorn and her daddy's absence an open wound.

Her first year at school and she could already relocate objects with a simple thought. School bullies would find themselves in the principal's office during important meetings and mushy peas would end up in the bin where they belonged.

Receiving her Hogwarts letter…confusion warring with excitement as she watched the stern Professor McGonagall patiently explain everything to her overprotective muggle mother.

Staying up all night with the girls, learning her new family. Lily, the endlessly kind muggleborn who held her every night while she cried because she'd never been away from her mother for so long and helped Mary educate their wizarding friends on muggle music. Alice, the vibrant firebrand with a wicked Bat-Bogey Hex, who snacked almost as much as Mary and showed her the paradise behind the ticklish pear portrait. Marlene, the sunshine girl who set off a myriad of magical fireworks for Mary's birthday because she wanted to make her smile. Doe, the quiet mastermind who would unleash a series of plagues against anyone who mucked with any of them, especially when it came to issues of blood purity.

Her first kisses…Sirius was pretty good at it but Charity Burbage beat him out by a mile. She'd never told Sirius though, never wanted to bruise his monumental ego.

Laughter ran around her mind as Mary was sucked back to reality, watching Alice double over in a fit of giggles. Glancing up at the perplexed faces of the four Marauders, Mary was grateful that her hysterical friend had kept the reason behind her laughter quiet.

Settling herself on the floor across from Alice, Mary wiggled her eyebrows. " _My_ turn?"

Still shaking with laughter, Alice nodded.

"Legilimens!" Mary cried, appreciating this sensation much more than the other one. She was still completely aware of the scratching of Sirius' quill on paper and Pete's chewing but her vision was clouded by bursts of colour before Alice's disjointed memories flooded in.

A hailstorm.

Faces…a man and a woman who looked an awful lot like Alice

A man in beige robes dragging her away from their lifeless bodies.

The loving embrace of her fiery Prewitt cousins.

Peach pie and food fights.

Hogwarts.

Missing Gid and Fab...loving the extra time with Molly more.

Late nights and blanket forts in the Gryffindor girls dormitory.

Friends who accept her quirks, friends who don't mind when she 'borrows' their clothes because they steal hers right on back.

A pretty boy with wicked quidditch skills called Frank.

Marauders, massive gossips and mischief masterminds.

James Potter…one of the first people Alice ever told about her ambition to follow in her father's footsteps into the Auror Office and the first person who didn't dismiss her as a traumatized orphan but a perspective warrior.

Frank.

Rocking Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Frank.

Despising the dullness of Professor Binns' History of Magic lessons…preferring Doe's versions much better.

Frank.

Frank.

Frank.

A boy's dormitory and blurred visions of Frank up way too close and personal for Mary's comfort.

Shaking her head to rid herself of that particular image, she lost the optical connection with Alice and was out of her head in seconds.

Mary arched an eyebrow but said nothing. She didn't need to. Alice looked like a beetroot.

"You two good to continue?" James asked, amusement clear in his tone as he passed them both goblets of water.

Nods all around.

"Alright then," Remus said, shifting from his ridiculous throne and onto the floor in front of them. "What you both need to do next is figure out how to compartmentalize. Knowing the two of you, I'd guess your thought progressions are...less than cohesive but you need to figure out how to shut all of that down. Legilimency is easy, as you now know, and you need to learn how to protect yourselves. This time around, try to focus your thoughts. You've both seen how they play out in your head so try to shift the direction, to literally _anything_ else. Recite a song or poem over and over again."

"Or scream," Sirius helpfully suggested.

"Now, go again. Try anything you can to throw the other person off."

Alice finally met her gaze. "Maybe just try to steer clear of our love lives, deal?"

Considering her earlier reaction? "Done deal."

* * *

"Sometimes I wish I was you so I could be friends with me."

"Sometimes I wish I was you so I could see what the hell goes through your head before you say stuff like that," Lily returned, taking a bite of her fettuccine and smiling serenely at her new friend.

Being friends with Sirius Black was like a crash course in chaos. Three days in and Sirius had already caused five minor explosions, triggered a blizzard in their classroom because Professor Binns had been "particularly dull today" and 'accidentally' sent a flock of irritable hippogriff's after Avery in Care of Magical Creatures when he made a mudblood joke. In the midst of all that pandemonium, Sirius had somehow also managed to find the time to make sense out of then rewrite Lily's Alchemy notes, correct her Transfiguration wandwork without drawing anyone else's attention to her errors or making her feel like a complete moron and even patiently allowed her to practice her braiding skills on his precious hair.

He also wasn't fazed by her sharp comebacks apparently. "Be nice to me, Evans, or your betrothal to Prongs is off."

"You can keep him, Black. I don't want him."

"You're in denial but you're cute so I'll forgive you," Sirius said with a chuckle.

Lily rolled her eyes but decided to ignore that one as the evening edition of the Daily Prophet had just landed in Sirius' lap, courtesy of Achilles. Lily hadn't been overly fond of James' owl since he crapped on her every chance he got but she couldn't hide her excitement when Sirius removed the sports section and handed her the rest of the paper.

Murmuring her thanks, she frowned down at the first page. Two Deatheater's had been discovered on the outskirts of muggle London, buried up to their waists in concrete with their wands stuck to the ceiling of the warehouse where they'd committed several atrocities in Voldemort's name. The Ministry statement declared that of the twenty seven bodies discovered, only thirteen of them could even be identified. Those that had been identified were muggles, squibs or renowned muggleborn witches and wizards.

The brutality wasn't what held Lily's attention; as it was becoming quite run of the mill these days. No, it was the phoenix burned into the side of warehouse building pictured above that caught her interest. She motioned to Doe, who was sitting further down the Gryffindor table but slid right on down and showed her resident paranoid conspiracist what Lily suspected was some sort of insignia. "Anything about that seem familiar to you?"

Doe's eyes narrowed on the symbol. "Phoenix's like this have been cropping up everywhere that the Deatheater's have been outmanoeuvred over the last year. I suspect either some sort of freedom fighting group or a vigilante."

"What does your dad say?" Rupert Meadowes listened to very few people, but his daughter topped the list.

"If there really is a group of freedom fighters out there, petal, he's got to be either a member or an accomplice. You know how he is...can't help himself. I haven't asked any direct questions because I don't want to hear any lies. All he did say was that decent folk don't stand idly by while their friends and neighbours are slaughtered." She ran her finger along the magical image or, more specifically, the stoic face of Caradoc Dearborn that surveyed the building in the background. "Personal interest in this one, petal?"

"Caradoc and I are just friends now, Doe." But they were good friends. They'd had an unbelievably amicable breakup, even studying for their respective examinations together in the aftermath and he'd kept in contact, even during the Auror training program. "But if I were to suggest anyone for vigilante bullshit, C would be right up there."

"His entire family were wiped out by them, weren't they?" Sirius interrupted, expression as serious as his moniker for a change.

"Yeah, while he was in his sixth year." The endless stream of funerals had worn on Caradoc but he'd remained the same stalwart guy she'd always known—only sadder and much more solemn.

"Poor blighter," Sirius whispered, his eyes never leaving the picture.

More sixth years' poured into the Great Hall at that moment, coming from what looked like a particularly brutal Arithmancy test if Marlene's scowl was anything to go by. Lily found herself wedged between James and Remus, which was not the worst place in the world to be. "What are we talking about?" Remus asked, passing Doe the mashed potatoes before she could even ask.

Sirius supplied them both the _Daily Prophet_ to inspect. "Freedom fighter group who may or may not be doing graffiti with phoenixes."

To his credit, Remus didn't look in the least bit baffled. "How did we come to this conclusion exactly?"

"There have been sixteen separate accounts in the Daily Prophet where the Deatheaters have been outsmarted in the papers and a phoenix has appeared," Doe began, piling mashed potatoes onto her plate. "Cross-reference that with some of the files I…pilfered from my father's office, we're up to thirty-five phoenixes of different shapes and sizes."

Stunned silence followed that particular pronouncement, with Lily making a mental note to be a little warier of the Meadowes family's curiosity in future whilst Marlene smirked at the boys' shocked faces.

Naturally, it was James who broke the silence. "Alright Meadowes, say there is a secret society trying to derail Voldemort and his Deatheaters, would you join?"

Doe didn't even pause to consider. "Yes."

"Why?"

"I may not be an overly warm or affectionate person but I was raised with a strict honour code: to love, honour and defend my family. My family has grown to include blood-traitors"—she nodded at Marlene and Alice, who was sitting further down the table with Frank—"and muggleborns"—she stared at Lily then glanced around, although confused that Mary wasn't present—"and I cannot in good conscience ignore such a threat to them."

"I get that," James admitted, serving himself up some shepherd's pie.

"I know you do, James Potter."

The approval in Doe's tone made Lily frown. Lily could understand what they were saying but that didn't mean she liked it. The threat they were speaking of was very real and more often in her mind than most but every one of the people gathered at that moment, people she loved and people she was learning to care about...all of them _could_ be safe if they pulled their heads in.

Lily was aware of the threat to her own life, but she could not tolerate the threat to people that she loved.

It didn't help that Marlene and Sirius both responded to James' questioning look with "Duh" before glowering at each other whilst Remus simply nodded. Alice and Frank would likely sign on in seconds while Mary would see no other choice for herself. If there really was such an organization, Caradoc and more like him were probably already signed on.

All of their motivations were honourable but they were all still children, naively volunteering for a war they didn't really understand.

The only one she knew for certain was safe from some hypothetical, freedom fighting secret society was Sev and only because he seemed to be heading gung ho for the Deatheaters, who were by no means secret anymore.

"If there is such a group...well, I'm glad there are some who actually seem to give a damn about what Voldemort and his people are doing but war is messy and honourable intentions won't save anyone who tries to oppose puritanical psychotics."

"So what do you propose we do?" Sirius questioned quietly. "Nothing?"

Lily knew nothing was considered the height of dishonour to the meddling Marauders. "No, I just—"

"So we sit on our arses while our friends are slaughtered like good little purebloods, eh?" James interrupted, his gaze heated and not in a good way.

"That is _not_ what I meant and you bloody well know it!" Lily near shouted, grabbing her things together and getting to her feet as she glowered at the impetuous lug whose big mouth was only ever going to get him in trouble. "People are dying every day, good people who are slaughtered even though their only crime was being born. I'm already targeted because of the circumstances of my birth so sorry if I don't want to watch the people I care about paint great big targets on their bloody backs!"

"Petal," Marlene murmured in her please-don't-go-volcano-on-us voice but Lily was done.

She turned to leave when a calloused hand locked around her wrist, staying her exit. "You question the people who love you for wanting to fight for you and you loathe my very existence but you've mourned him...a guy who joined a organization intent on slaughtering your kind. How can you justify that to yourself?" James snarled, shaking his head like he couldn't believe his ears before releasing her.

He could've slapped her and hurt her less. "Low blow, Potter," Lily hissed, stalking out of the Great Hall without a second glance.

Feet thundered after her and someone reached for Lily. Thinking it was Potter, she turned with her wand at the ready but it wasn't Potter's hawkish nose that she was seriously close to blasting off his face but Severus' hooked one.

"Breathe, Lilium," Sev instructed, his childhood nickname for Lily breaking her heart all over again because she could still remember when the scientific name for her floral namesake meant something good and happy for her.

"What more could you possibly want from me, Severus?" she cried, pulling back from Sev because Lily so desperately wanted to let him hold her and comfort her but knew she couldn't take comfort in him anymore. "You chose, remember? You put more value in your power and prestige than our friendship so why can't you let me be?"

"I-I saw you fighting with Potter just wanted to make sure you were o—"

"Okay? Well, no, Severus! I'm not okay but that has next to nothing to do with Potter and everything to do with the fact that people I know are dying while the people I care about are picking sides to die for so no, I'm not bloody well okay!" Lily spat back at him, watching his expression soften and storming off because she didn't want to hear his excuses anymore.

Screw Sev for eating away at her resolve to stay away from him.

Screw James Potter and the power his words seemed to have over her.

Screw men. Screw the war. Screw everything.


End file.
